When longtime friends Lynnette Griffiths and Marion Gaemers stroll along the beaches of Far North Queensland, they see beauty in the least expected places.
For more than 30 years, the artists have scoured shores far and wide, turning discarded ghost nets and marine debris into spectacular works of art while educating others.
Lynnette Griffiths and Marion Gaemers with their finished costume made from ghost nets, worn by friend Val Schier.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
“We don’t just make beautiful things, we really want to create the message of sustainability and [highlight] the problem of nets and ropes in the ocean and what’s happening on our beaches,” Griffiths said.
Griffiths and Gaemers have built a reputation for their large-scale ghost net art installations but acclaim in the fashion world is new.
The pair, recognised for their science-fiction-inspired costume made entirely from ghost nets, were the only Australians to take out an international design award at the recent World of WearableArt (WOW) competition.
Lynnette and Marion were surprised by their international design award at the World of WearableArt competition.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
The birth of the babel fish
Gaemers says their art shows how marine debris can be repurposed into something beautiful.
“Our design was centred around the oceans on Mars, so we created a babel fish, a fictional fish invented by author Douglas Adams,” she said.
“It was a bit of a nod to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams and Doctor Who, because we are science fiction nerds.”
The designers imagined someone emerging from the oceans of Mars in this costume … with a cape full of fish.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
Created out of recycled ropes entwined with netting, the full-body, high-collar dress features trumpet shoulder pads, an intricately stitched bodice, long claw-like fingers and a cast net train which trails behind with over 1,000 small sardines woven in.
“The sardines are made from white rope and green net from the Indonesian nets, which is a huge marine debris problem,” Griffiths said.
“Each sardine took me about 22 minutes to make, so it was a huge amount of work, but the effect is worth it.”
The train on the back of the costume is made from a cast net and has around 1,000 sardines — made from rope — sewn on to it.(Supplied: Lynette Griffiths)
The striking sardines in the one-of-a-kind costume glisten in the day and shine at night due to the luminous quality of the fibres in the fishing ropes and ghost nets.
“A lot of the fishing industry use materials that fluoresce at night to attract squid and other marine life, so a lot of the rope we’ve used fluoresces,” Griffiths said.
“With this sculpture [dress] we’ve used the fluorescent parts in the fish, the corals and various parts of the bodice.”
Making a statement
WOW, founded in 1987 and often described as “Broadway meets Cirque du Soleil”, is one of the world’s largest annual design competitions.
Every design at the World of WearableArt is unique. These two efforts won awards in the Mars and Beyond category.(Supplied: World of WearableArt Ltd)
Chief executive Meg Williams said the judges were impressed with the pair’s ingenuity in using 100 per cent sustainable materials.
“They liked the way they used marine debris and reclaimed materials to make their garment and support the message behind ghost nets,” Ms Williams said.
It has been Griffiths’s longtime dream to enter the competition.
“We thought maybe we would win a sustainability award because our costume was made from ghost nets, but when we didn’t win that, we thought, ‘Well, that’s that’,” she said.
“When they called our name for the international design award for Australia and the Pacific, we couldn’t believe it.
“But to be honest, we felt like winners just being selected as a finalist.”
Lynnette and Marion with their trophy.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
Working together to be part of the solution
The women, who met on Thursday Island in 1994, have been involved in the ghost net art movement since 2009, working alongside Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists with a common goal of recycling and educating.
Gaemers’s background in fine arts and traditional basket making compliments Griffiths’s skills as a visual artist and ceramicist, who hails from an ancestral heritage of rope makers.
Lynnette and Marion were also behind eleven giant ghost net rays suspended from the ceiling at Sydney’s Exchange Square at Barangaroo South.(Supplied: Lend Lease)
Their passion to be part of the environmental solution led to co-founding the Ghost Net Collective in 2020 which creates art out of the marine debris.
Their Mermer Waiskeder installation in Sydney’s Exchange Square featuring 11 giant ghost net rays — each weighing 85 kilograms — is one of the largest handcrafted, sustainable public art commissions in Australia.
The ghost nets in their projects were collected from the Torres Strait Islands to Cairns and even the Sydney Fish Market.
Some of the ghost nets and debris collected on a clean-up at Chilli Beach, Far North Queensland.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
According to Greenpeace, about 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear (ghost nets, chunks of rope and other fishing gear) end up in the world’s oceans each year.
Heidi Tait, chief executive of Tangaroa Blue, a not-for-profit Australian organisation dedicated to the removal of marine debris, said ghost nets were a massive environmental problem.
“We’ve recorded over 5 tonnes of ghost net and rope removed from clean-ups along the Great Barrier Reef, as part of our ReefClean project since 2019,” she said.
Lynnette sorts through rubbish and marine debris on a beach clean-up.(Supplied: Lynnette Griffiths)
“Every beach clean-up we do, rubbish is separated, sorted and entered into the Australian Marine Debris Initiative database, to help us better understand where the marine debris is coming from.”
Griffiths and Gaemers hope their ghost net art will inspire others.
Members of the Ghost Net Collective and one of the giant rays they made out of ghost nets.(Supplied: Keiran James)
“If we can use our art to educate people, then hopefully we can make a difference,” Gaemers said.
Their Birth of the Babel Fish costume will remain in New Zealand for the next two years and be on show at next year’s event.
Griffiths says they are now looking toward next year’s entry.
“As one of the judges said, ‘Earth without art would just be Eh!'”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
