Fashion types may seem like strange bedfellows to ocean health conservationists, but it’s right up its alley for the Prada Possible Conversation series.
In honor of International Day for Biological Diversity, the Italian luxury brand gathered champions and activists to the cause of ocean literacy to its Soho flagship store, aka a Prada Epicenter location, to address a well-dressed crowd of stylish yet sea-health-minded guests to highlight the work of Sea Beyond, an educational program conducted since 2019 by Prada Group in partnership with UNESCO‘s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
Francesca Santoro, UNESCO-IOC Senior Program Officer, led the discussion with Emmy-nominated photographer and Climate Artist Enzo Barracco and Meghan Marrero, NMEA (National Marine Educators Association) Blue Schools Committee Chair which focused on the ways their endeavors are helping to educate the masses about the precarious water ecosystem.
“Someone once pointed out to me that Planet Earth is, in fact, a bit incorrect as it’s really a planet of water,” Santoro said to the crowd, adding, “Sea Beyond promotes ocean conservation and protection through education; if we want to act, we have to know what we want to protect. Art is one way to teach this.”
Among the guests in attendance was famed artist Cindy Sherman.
She introduced Barracco, who was formerly a fashion photographer based in London and New York.
“By accident, I discovered the story of explorer Ernest Shackleton, which changed my life. His courage and desire never to give up inspired me,” the photographer told the crowd.
As the trio spoke, prominent images the photographer took in Antarctica, Galapagos, and Hawaii flashed on a large screen behind them. It was clear that a fashion photographer was behind the pictures of blue-finned birds, iguanas, crabs, various glaciers, icebergs, and bodies of water that were positively sexy and enticing. The photos will be on display in the store until May 27.
“Art is powerful for telling a story about the natural world,” Barracco continued, describing his adventures in exotic locations. The creative said he leans on photography as a means of storytelling as it doesn’t require translation. He will soon debut another book in the Prada Aoyama Epicenter in Tokyo based on his photographs and travels to Hawaii, in which the Italian photographer thanked Lorenzo Bertelli, a Prada executive and son of Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli.
When queried the main differences between fashion photography and nature photography, Barracco painted a clear picture.
“In a studio, you control everything, including the set and the lighting, but in nature, it controls everything, and you adapt to nature. You need to pay attention to time,” he said as he regaled the circumstances involved in some of his photos.
“One photo from the Galapagos, I am in a strong current near sharks—they are beautiful creatures and not interested in you, by the way— and it’s difficult to take the photo in the water. You do your best to come home alive. In the studio, the worst might just be a dangerous producer,” he said to the crowd, drawing a laugh. In another photo, he waited six hours for an image of a glacier and was smashed by the wave in what he called the “most scary moment of my life.”
“The water hit parts of my body I didn’t even know existed! There was a saying before: if your photo wasn’t good, you weren’t close enough, but I don’t know if the photo is good, but I was really close,” he told the crowd.
Santoro also announced some good news for Marrero’s Blue School program, which is that Prada Group granted a donation to NMEA that was helping launch 16 new blue schools in the Tri-state area. The program is open to schools who apply and commit to ensuring ocean literacy is a part of the curriculum.
“The schools design the programs around their community and teach kids in a hands-on manner; for example, a science teacher and Spanish teacher taught kids about the water and its organisms on a river which was an ocean watershed in a largely Latino speaking community; another school realized things in the school store weren’t sustainable and moved to change that while others programs include a play-based curriculum for 5-year-olds teaching them to be ocean helpers by doing beach cleanups and testing waters,” she explained.
During a Q&A, one guest wondered how cement-surrounded city dwellers could do more than just purchase items made from Prada’s Re-Nylon fabric, which is produced from recycled plastic materials collected in the ocean. The brand also sends 1 percent of total sales from the collection to support Sea Beyond.
Santoro quickly replied, suggesting they take a train and visit some of the beaches of New York City and pick up trash, even implying their actions might start a trend. “People will follow what they see others doing,” she said.
That’s also music to the New York City Parks Department’s ears, which ahead of the 2024 beach season just redistributed a list of rules at public waterfront sand strips, including fines for littering, among other transgressions. If fashion can start that trend, Prada’s Possible Conversation lives up to its name.
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