Ningaloo/Nyinggulu
My drawing focuses on Ningaloo marine park and 557 fish that inhabit this pristine biodiverse area of Australia. Illustrated within the circle, a symbol of the protection offered by a shoal of fish, I invite viewers to contemplate the human impact on the fragility of this World Heritage listed area.
The ocean has aways inspired me, the ability it has to change my mood, to calm me, to boost me, to awaken my emotions. When my son announced at 18 he and his girlfriend were off to Ningaloo and Exmouth I had this surge of excitement and a tinge of jealously. Ningaloo has always been on my bucket list a combination of the things that feed my soul, nature, remoteness, the ocean and whale sharks. About the same time as my sons news broke so did the Tim Winton special on Ningaloo, if you haven’t seen it please do, it had me mesmerised.. the richness of Exmouth is something to behold. The importance of the region started my research, I wanted to draw it all I wanted everyone to experience it through my art but it was too rich and too vast for one drawing so I decided on fish. What fish, of course we all associate whale sharks but what else needs Ningaloo, well through my research I found 558 fish that are native, endemic or introduced to Ningaloo. Each one of these has the own relationship with the 300km of fringing coral reef.
Ningaloo has managed to remain relatively untouched from humans, largely due to its location, some 1200km from Perth, but slowly tourism is increasing, there is more rubbish left around, the use of sunscreens, night torches can slowly damage the reef, over fishing as well as the big guys like Woodside, K+S Salt and GGL who are all a threat to this world heritage listed area.
This fragile place hold such significant value to the environment, why would any one put this area at risk…..we must protect Ningaloo.
