Entry Category:
"Ostrich Eggs" happily laid at 3RR, uniquely crafted
DescriptionMy egg is a mosaic depicting three scenes in the life cycle of Mōlī or Laysan Albatross, made of collected plastic marine debris. Mōlī parents forage for squid, flying fish eggs, and other marine life and inadvertently ingest plastic items attached to egg masses or mistaken as food. Upon returning to their nesting sites across the Hawaiian islands, including on Oʻahu, they regurgitate the food and plastic to feed their waiting and hungry chicks. The title of the piece ‘Ea Ho‘ohua Mōlī translates to “plastic that produces a Laysan Albatross” There is also a play on “hua,” which means “egg,” and a play on “ea,” to rise, and “‘ea,” spray (including sea spray).
I hope that creating a piece of art out of ‘ōpala, trash, that humans create, serves as a reminder that we need to reconsider the role plastic plays in our lives. I chose to photograph the finished piece at a beach where much of the plastic was collected on a “nest” of sticks, grasses, twigs as well as plastic debris.
BioJessika Cirkus Ross is an artist based in Kahalu’u on the Windward side of O’ahu. Originally from New Jersey, she has always been drawn to arts, culture and conservation. After graduating from New York University in Studio Arts, she ran an art gallery and literary festival in Washington DC before deciding to pursue her dream of traveling the world. Her travels took her to El Parque Hawaii in Guatemala, a turtle hatchery working to save turtle eggs from being poached and sold for consumption. There, Jessika led art projects with the local community focusing on marine conservation. Later, in the Bay Islands of Honduras she worked as a diver and underwater videographer, working with the organization EcoOceans, filming videos of whale sharks being tagged with acoustic transmitters. From Central America Jessika traveled to Europe where she worked at the London Aquarium and in public school art education. Back in the United States, Jessika continued her artwork in various media including photography, videography, painting, printmaking, collage and sewing, with conservation a key theme of her creative expression. After moving to Hawai’i with her husband and two children Fara and Rona, Jessika taught art and sewing at the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Jessika Cirkus Ross’ latest work explores Hawai’i’s natural world through mosaics made exclusively of marine debris collected on the island’s beaches. The juxtaposition of nature’s beauty in the medium of discarded waste, is designed to prompt conversations about our interaction with the lands and oceans we all share, and the fragility of Hawai’i’s environment.
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