Gratitude and Solidarity Fish
If you haven't seen any of the Solidarity Fish "swimming" around Florida in the last year you have been missing out. What began as an artist's (several artists actually) response to the overwhelming public outcry over the ecological collapse of the Indian River Lagoon in 2013 has become a far-reaching phenomenon. They have been from the Everglades to Washington, D.C., from the steps of the Capitol Building in Tallahassee to the cover of major Florida newspapers and in the New York Times. But what is really spectacular about these fish is that regular folks, old and young, are the creators of these beautifully powerful images.
The recipe is simple: a thin wooden fish is blank on one side while the other side is white skeletal remains on a black background. Enter the volunteers who turn the blank side into a vividly painted, one of a kind masterpiece. When they are displayed together they become a monumental public art installation that connects participants and passers-by in a most powerful way. These two-sided "turn it around" fish display both what is lost and what can be found again if the state comes together to solve our water quality crises.
The fish have been formally mounted outside the Blake Library (Martin County), the Elliot Museum, the Stuart News building, and the Florida Oceanographic Society (to name a few), and inside Stuart City Hall. They have been waved in parades and carried or displayed at nearly every grassroots action focused on protecting the estuaries of the Greater Everglades in the past year.
The fish have become a single image that says it all for activists working on Everglades restoration:
You can't help but be thankful for Solidarity Fish!