2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge Finalists: 15-19 year old students
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is pleased to announce the finalists in our 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge! This international student art contest engages students in important ocean issues through art. For this year’s competition, students were asked to illustrate one or more of the benefits mangroves provide to people, other organisms, or the environment.
Entries to the Science Without Borders® Challenge are judged in two categories based on age. Here are the finalists selected from the older group of applicants, students 15-19 years old:
"The Growth of Hope" by Rachel Chen, Age 16, Indonesia
Artist's Statement: In this piece, a little girl is shown to be planting a mangrove tree to help conserve the mangrove. The transparency of her body conveys how she actually isn't physically there to protect the environment because the destruction of mangroves is an issue often overlooked nowadays. The girl's youth signifies how important it is for our young generation to start taking action, and the little mangrove tree she's planting symbolizes hope for the ecosystem's viability and condition. I painted many different creatures, plants, and corals in the background to indicate how there are endless living things that rely on the mangrove's ecosystem. Without mangroves, habitats of all these species would be lost, water quality and clarity may not be maintained, and other critical issues that could adversely impact our lives would arise.
