Seaweed to the Rescue

Anya Gallaccio, 2025, Untitled - Oceans 4, 115 x 100.5cm, Scottish Kelp, seaweed ink, coastal chalk and bonfire ash, floated on Irish red Seaweed on paper

WWF and Artwise in association with Sotheby’s have curated a fascinating exhibition focusing on the extraordinary power of seaweed. 16 leading international artists were commissioned to produce artworks using Oceanum’s Ocean Ink® - the world’s first sustainable, fully biodegradable ink made from regeneratively farmed seaweed.

Seaweed forests, I discovered, are the overlooked heroes in our oceans. Seaweed - of which kelp is but one of an estimated 24,000 species - is a climate change warrior that helps replace carbon-intensive products, sustain biodiversity, and balance our ecosystem. To mention just a few of its many and varied benefits, it acts as a natural water purifier, creates safe habitats for a diversity of marine life, is a sustainable alternative to plastic, and is a nutritious food for animals in and out of the water (including us humans).

Yes, please. The art on exhibit (and for sale) ranges from works on paper to sculpture to a Stella McCartney dress made with seaweed-based yarn. But here I’ll flag just three works that most caught my eye.

Antony Gormley, 2024, WITHIN (For The Oceans), seaweed ink on paper, 76.2 x 111.5cm, courtesy of the Artist and White Cube

As the opening speeches were taking place I was completely and utterly captivated by an artwork on the wall behind the speakers. I had no idea who it was by (should have guessed, but didn’t), all I knew is that I was floating above that figure and it was pulling me deeper and deeper with it. After the speeches we came closer to the artwork and it was, of course, by one of my absolute favourite artists, Antony Gormley. What can I say, if you’ve got magic it shines through. The image is above but the painting looks so much better in person, and best viewed from a bit of a distance.

Here is the artist’s statement: (Antony Gormley, b. 1950, London, UK): “When I am in the embrace of seawater, I feel most alive and most at home. I am angry at our species’ carelessness. I want to make work that speaks to our dependency on the planet and the elements and acknowledges the fact that we are in the planet’s hands, not the other way around. The human condition is formed by our environment, some of which we have made, but all of which has made us. I want my art to help us reconnect with everything that supports us.” 

Anya Gallaccio, 2025, Untitled - Oceans 1, 115 x 100.5cm, Scottish Kelp, seaweed ink, coastal chalk and bonfire ash, floated on Irish red Seaweed on paper

Anya Gallaccio, Untitled - Oceans 1, detail

Another work that absolutely captivated me is by Anya Gallaccio. I was not previously acquainted with her work but it was love at first sight. This artwork is best viewed close-up. The detail is extraordinary.

Here is the artist’s statement: (Anya Gallaccio, b. 1963, Paisley, Scotland): “We often have a romantic or sentimental attachment to the sea. Memories of seaside holidays as a child. Ideas of the sublime, wild and unknowable seas. In working with inks made from seaweed, chalk from a crumbling coastline, the ash of a burnt tree, I set a situation with both materials and chance to produce images that are both fantastical imaginary landscapes and a manifestation of the mutability of everything we take as given. To insist on the interconnectedness of it all.”

Katie Kaur, 2025, Markings on Your Surface, seaweed ink, oil paint and miracle medium on hand-stitched canvas, 130 x 135cm

This soulful work by Katie Kaur is also a new discovery for me. The subject matter seems to shift depending on the viewer’s projections upon it, allowing us to alter the figures’ stories depending on the mood. Quite captivating. (How many figures do you see?)

Here is the artist’s statement: (Katie Kaur, b. 2000, Coventry, UK): "Working with the seaweed ink was completely fascinating and such a privilege. The medium felt like a natural extension of my research into the underwater realm as a space where time feels slower. I love the idea that the appearance of the ink could evolve over time, creating ever shifting paintings that are, in some ways, themselves alive." - Katie Kaur

Andrew Cranston, 2025, A Mole for Franz Kafka, seaweed ink on canvas, 61.1 x 91.5cm

The Art For Your Ocean artists are: Max Boyla, Andrew Cranston, Laura Footes, Laura Ford, Anya Gallaccio, Antony Gormley, Nick Goss, Mona Hatoum, Lubaina Himid, Katie Kaur, Harland Miller, Beatriz Morales, Daisy Parris, Emma Stibbon, Emma Talbot, and Caragh Thuring. The exhibition also includes Stella McCartney garments crafted using Kelsun, a compostable and renewable seaweed-based yarn.

“Art for Your Oceans”, runs through 15 May at Sotheby’s in London. Works can be purchased online on the WWF website. https://www.wwf.org.uk/art-for-your-world/projects/art-for-your-oceans#work