Original title: Alternative "parrotfish" in the Caribbean
On the border of Haiti, the Masacre River, the northwesternmost part of the Dominican Republic, Spanish art group BOA MISTURA, with the help of local Caribbean fishermen and their families, painted 52 fishing boats throughout February.
All images courtesy of boa mistura
It was a small town with very dangerous terrain, and by the time BOA MISTURA reached the far northwesternmost part of the Dominican Republic, they were already in Monte cristi, a coastal province, but most of the time they were actually operating in a more remote village called Pepillo salcedo.
This predominantly fishermen's village, called estero balsa, is dotted with wetlands, small freshwater lakes and mangroves with little electricity and just ubiquitous garbage dumps and abandoned, rusty fishing boats. After some investigation, BOA MISTURA decided to do the graffiti here, where more than 50 rusty boats were all eroded by mollusks, but there were no shiny parrotfish living on algae.
The whole creative process lasted for a month, and people trekked in the water, doing their favorite work. Every day fishermen have tow their boats from the mangroves to a makeshift shipyard on los coquitos beach, sometimes on the ground, sometimes with the help of neighbours, sometimes paddling for more than an hour, or even borrowing engines from each other to drive the boats over for a makeover.
Fishermen and their families are responsible for scrubbing old wood on board, removing mollusks such as algae, repairing boats with fiberglass, primering each boat, etc., so that BOA MISTURA can focus on what they do best – graffiti, to send a message to the world. The image above depicts the esperalda II floating in the water, with elements of pink, green, dots and lines, all inspired by a well-known fish in the Caribbean, the parrotfish.
Parrotfish have a special relationship with the Caribbean, not only are they like eccentric DJ hip-hop singers, wearing red "costumes" to swim around the sea, they are also the guardians of corals, because they eat the algae on corals, which plays an important role in the entire Caribbean ecosystem.
A single parrotfish can produce 100 kg of white sand per year, and although it is listed as a protected species, illegal hunting still threatens the stability of tropical ecosystems.
During the four weeks that the project lasted, a total of about 50 ships were doodled. 52 yolas (as the locals call their boats) weave through the Manzanillo River, painted in the texture of parrotfish, and they are a constant reminder of how fragile the waters are, an act that is not only a reminder of local development, but also of great significance to the ecological balance of the entire planet.