You’ve probably heard the expression “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Well to two Australian sister trash is more than treasure it is a piece of art.
Sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim decided to save all the plastic trash they had used over two years. They were so shocked by the amount that they turned it into art and labeled it “Toxic Reef.” At the Track 16 gallery in Santa Monica their Toxic Reef is artfully linked to their proudest achievement and featured exhibition: The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef.
Curated by the Wertheim sisters themselves the Crochet Reef combines an assortment of crochet projects from women all over the world. Praised as “the Aids Quilt of Global Warming The Crochet Reef is a response to the crisis facing marine environments, and is an entirely crocheted reproduction of the 1,500-mile-long Great Barrier Reef which stretches along the coast of Queensland Australia.
The Crochet Reef is also a celebration of mathematics, with every sea anemone, coral and sponge a manifestation of formation known as hyperbolic space. Just as variations of a genetic code coalesce to create a diversity of living species, modifications of a crochet code can result in a range of hyperbolic crochet species.”
Having already been all over the world from New York to London The Crochet Reef is on exhibit in Santa Monica until the end of the month when it will be moved to Scottsdale Arizona.