Vanessa Barragao
Studio Vanessa Barragão is a Portugal-based design studio that focus on artisanal techniques and produces textile products utilizing wasted yarns salvaged by the industry. Barragão was born in Albufeira, in the south of Portugal. During her childhood she grew up by the seaside, and her connection to the ocean is the inspiration for her artworks. She founded her studio in 2014 during her masters degree at the Lisbon University
in fashion and textiles design. Here, she developed her first wool yarn collection and tapestries through an ecological artisanal process. Today, the studio is based in Porto, the Northern region of Portugal, which is the core of the textile industry in the nation. Her artistic work is characterized by her captivating environments of coral reefs and her unique way of combining craft and recycled materials that she turns into sculptural
carpets and tapestries for walls and floors.
Chosen Works
Coral Garden
2019
wool, cotton and lyocell
120x120 cm
The textile mass industry industry is one of the most polluting in the world. All the machinery used requires tons of energy while producing a lot of waste and disposable trash. It is extremely harmful for our planet and it affects all of its different natural environments, particularly the ocean which absorbs 90% of the atmosphere pollution. Global warming is erasing one of the most vital environments, the coral reefs. This living and complex natural organisms are the heart of an immense habitat of marine species which depend on one another to survive. Without this pilar, a major part of sealife can become close to extinction which will ultimately affect us and many other living species.
The Coral Garden, focuses on this problematic and how it is deeply affecting coral reef’s environments. Vanessa believes in an upcycling effort and conscious production methods on an attempt to fight this negative mindset and improve our Earth’s health. All the materials used come from the deadstock of specific artisanal rug’s factory in Beiriz, which is first cleaned and then selected to recycle and reused in her projects. Her production tries to be the most ecofriendly as possible, using ancestral and handmade techniques, like latch hook, hand-tuft, embroidery, felt and crochet, to create her artworks.
Scientific background
Textile industry and its consequences
The textile industry is among the most polluting in the world, with such chemical processes as fiber tre- atment and dyeing, energy consumption by production machinery, and disposed fabric waste. Barragão recognizes the harmful effects of these processes, and she is especially concerned about the ocean which absorbs 90% of the atmosphere pollution, warming up itself. The top few meters beneath the ocean sur- face store as much heat as earth ́s entire atmosphere and should the ocean heat up too rapidly, species as coral and algae are threatened. This issue is something that Barragão wants to communicate through her artworks. The artist believes in an upcycling effort towards the right way to try to fight against the ignorant industry. All the materials used, come from the deadstock of several local factories which is first cleaned and then selected to recycle and reuse in her projects. By using ancestral techniques, the production is comple- tely artisanal and handmade, like knitting, macrame and latch hook.
Threats to coral reefs
Coral reefs are a type of biotic reef that develops in tropical waters by the growth of coralline algae, hermatypic corals, and other marine organisms. They are usually massive bio- genic formations of calcium carbonate that is deposited around or within the bodies of the inhabitants of the reef as skeletal material. Gradually, this material will accumulate as debrids and will in most cases be knitted together by the con- tinued growth of the attached forms living on the reef.
Increased ocean temperatures and changing ocean chemistry are the greatest global threats to coral reef ecosystems. These threats are caused by warmer atmospheric temperatures and increasing levels of car- bon dioxide in seawater. When Co2 dissolves in the ocean, it raises the water ́s acidity level. This prevents a build up of calcium carbonate, which the corals draw from seawater to build their skeleton.
The rise of the water temperature also causes corals to lose the microscopic algae which is neccessary for the production of food they need, placing stress on the corals. Without this algae coral also lose their co- loration which is knows as a condition where corals start to bleach because of the loss of algea. They now reveal the white color of the calcium carbonate structure that lays under the polyps on the reefs. If this ble- aching continues over a longer period, it can kill coral colonies or leave them vulnerable to other threats, e.g infectious disease. When the ocean ́s acidity level changes, the ocean chemistry changes in reponse to the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is in equilibrium with that in seawater. This means that when atmospheric concentrations increase so do oceanic concentrations. When carbon dioxide enters seawater, the reaction creates carbonic acid, causing an increase in acidity.
Each year, the ocean absorbs about one-quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas). Since the Industrial Revolution, ocean acidity has increased by about 30%, a rate that is more than 10 times what has previously occurred for millions of years. Further, ocean acidity levels are expected to increase by an additional 40% above present levels by the end of this century.
Increases in ocean acidity (measured by lower pH values) reduce the availability of dissolved salts and ions needed by corals to form the calcium carbonate structure. Consequently, coral growth and reef growth can be slowed, with some species affected more than others. If acidification becomes severe, coral skeletons can actually dissolve. On a local level, nutrient enrichment due to run-off from human activities on land can also cause increased acidity in coastal waters, exacerbating the effects of ocean acidification.
Annually, the ocean absorbs around 15% of the carbon dioxi- de emitted from oil, natual gas and coal. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity has increased by 30%, which is more than 10 times as much accurred for millions of years. It is further predicted that by the end of this century, the ocean acidity levels will increase by an additional 40% above todays levels.
Methods
The artist believes in an upcycling effort towards the right way to try to fight against the ignorant industry. All the materials used, come from the deadstock of several local factories which is first cleaned and then selected to recycle and reuse in her projects. By using ancestral techniques, the production is completely artisanal and handmade, like knitting, macrame and latch hook.
Instead of using yarn, I have used recycled plastic to point out another threat to the coral reefs. Plastic pol- lution poses an even greater threat to coral reefs because the surface of the plastic creates a perfect place for microbes to attach to, that further on creates disease.The plastics carry these microbes with them through the aquatic environment and can eventually end up settling in ecosystems, such as coral reefs. Once the plastic has taken its place, it wreak havoc. It damage the coals and abrade them, which creates open wounds and expose the coral reefs to microbes. These diseases are not just damaging to the corals, they are fatal and cause rapid death in coral reefs.
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