nuncA MÁIS

The last three years were spent on a project entitled nuncA MÁIS (Galician for never again) this Multi media urban experience explored the effects of oil spills in our oceans..

The many forms of nuncA MÁIS began the first year with Raku fired ceramic and wire sculptures, a School of Decaying Fish Skeletons and other underwater marine animals. The second year became a more ambitious project to include a flock of 30 life size marine birds, also made from Raku fired ceramic and wire. The tar covered birds showed the effects of the most devastating oil spill, the Prestige oil tanker, which sank off the coast of Spain in November 2002. Demonstrators in Madrid protested the Spanish governments decision to haul the ship out to sea and let it sink. nuncA MÁIS was the name of this demonstration. When the tanker first broke, 4,000 tons of oil leaked into the Atlantic Ocean in two days. Almost a quarter of a million birds were affected, the vast majority of them died. Two years later, the wrecked tanker was still seeping oil into the sea and continued to bring environmental and economic ruin to the Galician coast.

The nuncA MÁIS project involved several venues and events. A 15 ft. truck painted with a flock of oil dripping birds roamed from San Diego to Idaho and all over the Bay Area. The opening event began at Ocean Beach in San Francisco at dusk with a singer greeting people with sad eerie sounds. The video was projected onto the sand and several of the birds were set on fire. Head stones marked the dates and places where oil spills had occurred in different countries. Audience members then carried the birds on hooks in a procession to the gallery. At the gallery the remaining 24 birds were suspended from the ceiling, caught in flight and in various forms of decomposition. The video was projected onto the wall behind the flock. There were also assemblage pieces, Found Remains, which were ceramic bird body parts with tar covered rocks from the prestige oil spill and sea salt harvested from ocean beach. On the wall were Shadows; bird shapes made from hundreds of black oiled feathers pinned to the wall. T-shirts were also for sale and free handmade tar booklets were given to the audience. These tar booklets gave ideas on how to get involved in the preservation of our environment. 10% of the proceeds were donated to the Point Reyes Bird Observatory.

After SoulArch Gallery The different pieces of nuncA MÁIS moved on to other venues including; two installations for World Environment Day, an installation for the Port of Oakland's Bayennale inside a 20 ft. shipping container, an installation for the Animal Protection Institute and a backdrop for a dance performance at Stanford University. nuncA MÁIS will soon be moving on to L.A. and possibly France.