environmentproject

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Identity research final project:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/mentalhealthandgames

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Project overview:

Overall, for this project we were asked to focus on a topic related to the environment, nature or animals. I ended up choosing animals, specifically manta rays and this topic spread over slightly into the other topics as manta rays are also affected by climate change. We were also asked to create posters on this topic, of which I created 3 final posters to submit. I think this work relates to the work we were covering in our classes as we focused a lot on human effects on nature and how various people and visual creatives have campaigned against them, and humans are the root cause of all the threats threatening and endangering manta rays now, which I suppose my posters are trying to encourage people to learn more about and campaign against. We also looked specifically at climate change in our last class when we watched a documentary titled ‘Anthropocene’ and climate change is one of the causes I have listed as a threat in two of my final posters.

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These three posters are the final outcome I am submitting for my project. These three are the posters I am proudest to have made and feel are most striking and most accurately carry across my message that manta rays are under threat and should be better protected. The first two posters I kept the same from when I drew them over Christmas as I like them how they are and couldn’t really think of how to improve them. I thought I could add in the word ‘endangered’ as that is the new classification (from December 2020) for giant oceanic manta rays on the IUCN Red List, but I wasn’t sure how I could fit it in without rearranging all the words which I didn’t want to do since I like their layout. However, with the third poster I redrew part of the text to say ‘endangered and vulnerable’ instead of the previous ‘vulnerable and threatened’ to fit in with the new classification. I also added more gills as when I originally drew the poster I had forgotten manta rays usually have at least 5 gills on each side and only drew 4 on each side.

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Rachel Ignotofsky’s book “the incredible ecosystems of planet earth’ and how it inspired me for my project and posters:

When I was young my favourite place to visit was the aquarium. My Grandma, who lives in Portugal, took my brother and I several times over all the years we visited, as it was cheaper than the London aquarium and I often asked to go. My favourite tank was one of the large ones with a number of sharks and fish and manta rays. I would stare at the manta rays for as long as I could before we would inevitably move onto the next tank. I found them extremely elegant and beautiful. I loved dolphins for their playfulness and ability to do tricks, but manta rays always stuck in my mind as my favourite marine animal.

Fast forward a few years and I had almost completely forgotten about manta rays.

In 2017 I left my previous University in order to have surgery done for a hand injury. My recovery took two years and while I was recovering I visited several museums. During a visit to the Science Museum I bought a book called ‘Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers who Changed the World’ which was both written and illustrated by Rachel Ignotofsky. I bought it primarily for its striking illustrations and colours but also because I wanted to learn more about science. I was trying to use my years out of University to broaden my horizons before I could return. As the book was aimed at children I was impressed with how engaging and informative I found it and when Rachel Ignotofsky published her third book (not including a journal she also released before) I asked for it as a birthday present.

This book was ‘The Incredible Ecosystems of Planet Earth’ (this seems to be the title used when the book was published in Britain, it is also titled ‘The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth: Understanding Our World and it’s Ecosystems’) and arrived in March 2019. The way Ignotofsky wrote about how much humanity impacts the ecosystems and the earth in a variety of ways made me realise just how much of a threat humanity and the effects of humanity (such as global warming) can be towards the natural world. The book also made me remember how much I cared about animals and nature as a child, specifically manta rays. After reading the book I decided to learn more about manta rays again and was shocked to see how under threat they were, with both species categorised as ‘vulnerable’ at the time by the IUCN Red List.

Therefore, when we were asked to look at an artist to inspire our work and relate to our project, I chose Rachel Ignotofsky. I believe her work, specifically her book “The Incredible Ecosystems of Planet Earth” relates to our project on nature and the environment as she is passionate about teaching people about the environment and how we can protect it. The last section of the book is titled “Humans and Planet Earth” (2019, p. 99) and includes sections on “Human Impacts on Nature” (2019, p. 104), “Climate Change” (2019, p. 106) and “Protecting our Planet” (2019, p. 108) which suggests she wants to raise awareness of our impact on the planet and how we can try and help protect our planet. This is further shown in an interview with Rachel Becker (2018) where, when asked why she chose to write about the planet Ignotofsky said “I believe the biggest problem that we face is climate change and an overuse of our limited natural resources. And the first step in properly protecting our planet is educating people about exactly how it works”. This relates to what we learnt in our lectures about climate change and about campaigns that aim to raise awareness about how humans use and abuse and use the natural world, including animals (such as a 1985 campaign against fur run by Lynx for Greenpeace). Her passion for the environment can be seen by how much research she put into her book. She has a resources page on her website specific to that book (Rachel Ignotofsky Design, no date) which, I counted, includes 189 resources total (3 books, 4 websites, 20 websites and organisations and 162 more specific resources).

The book is Ignotofsky’s own way of campaigning for awareness, of trying to inspire people to act against climate change and people seem to be received positively. For example, reviews seem to be favourable. One review by Kirkus (2018) reviews states: “Although the book stresses the serious threats the environment faces, the tone encourages further education and action to help slow the destruction caused by climate change”, and “more than informative, this ecological adventure calls for action”. BookTrust (no date) (a UK charity aiming to encourage children to read), also gave it a positive review and included it in three of their lists of book recommendations: “Great Books Guide: for 8 to 9 year olds”, “Favourite books about the environment (older children)” and “12 great books for 9-year-olds”.

Ignotofsky’s work inspired me to try and make the information I was providing on my posters as accessible and easy to understand as possible while still retaining the facts and encouraging people to learn more. Our approaches are different as she worked on a book and so tried to make her work as detailed as possible to keep the readers attention. She says so in an interview with RHI magazine:

“Illustrated books that made learning feel like a game, rather than an assignment, taught me to love reading. I try to make books like that. Where the reader can spend hours on one page discovering new things.”

As I am making posters, I still want to draw the viewer’s attention but only to one specific page, so I need to focus more on providing as much information as I can in one limited space.

Reference list:

Becker, R. (2018) Get a grip on the natural world with this beautiful manual for the planet. Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/15/17856800/the-wondrous-workings-of-planet-earth-rachel-ignotofsky-book-ecology-climate-change (accessed: 11 December 2018)

BookTrust (no date) The Incredible Ecosystems of Planet Earth. Available at: https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/the-incredible-ecosystems-of-planet-earth/ (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Kirkus (2018) The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth. Available at: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rachel-ignotofsky/the-wondrous-workings-of-planet-earth/ (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Rachel Ignotofsky Design (no date) The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth Sources. Available at: https://www.rachelignotofskydesign.com/sources (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Ignotofsky, R. (2019) The Incredible Ecosystems of Planet Earth. Great Britain: Wren & Rook.

Other sources consulted:

Crocombe, A. (2018) The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth by Rachel Ignotofsky. Available at: https://www.readings.com.au/review/the-wondrous-workings-of-planet-earth-by-rachel-ignotofsky (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Ortiz, A. (2016) Fearless Pioneers: An Interview with Rachel Ignotofsky. Available at: https://herpothesis.com/2016/03/28/interview-rachel-ignotofsky/ (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Rachel Ignotofsky Design (no date) About. Available at: https://www.rachelignotofskydesign.com/about(accessed: 11 December 2020)

Random House Inc magazine (2018) Rachel Ignotofsky Makes Learning Fun in The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth. Available at: https://rhimagazine.com/2018/09/25/rachel-ignotofsky-makes-learning-fun-in-the-wondrous-workings-of-planet-earth/ (accessed: 11 December 2020)

Schulze, B. (2019) Rachel Ignotofsky, Author of The Wondrous Workings of Planet Earth | My Writing and Reading Life. Available at: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/2019/03/rachel-ignotofsky-author-of-the-wondrous-workings-of-planet-earth-my-writing-and-reading-life (accessed: 11 December 2020)

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Information I have gathered on the threats to manta rays during this project:

Martina Wing (2019) states that tourists, or any people who swim with manta rays should not touch them. She explains that: “As a fish, manta rays also have this slime coating on their bodies. It protects them from bacteria and if it is removed, it can expose the mantas to infection.” Touching them can remove that coating.

Manta rays are hunted for their gill rakers and their meat is also used as a substitute for shark meat in shark fin soup. Their gill rakers are used for medicinal treatments that are not backed up by science. This is one of the main reasons they are threatened, Martina Wing (2020) argues:

“There is an increasing demand for manta rays and their gill rakers. Mainly from branches of Chinese medicine which is putting enormous pressure on mantas. The so-called medical benefits are not supported by science nor by traditional Chinese medicine texts. However, the demand from the global market has driven fisheries around the world to target manta rays.”

As manta rays reproduce very slowly, their numbers are decreasing, which the IUCN Red list (2020) maintains is part of why their population is decreasing so much:

“The species is among the longest-living rays and has an extremely conservative life history; the average Giant Manta Ray may produce only 4–7 pups during its estimated lifespan, which would contribute to its slow recovery from population reductions due to over-exploitation or other threats.”

There are also claims that polluted water (from oil spillages as well as plastic pollution), tourism (manta rays being scared out of habitats and touched by tourists) and global warming is also affecting their habitats. This is also shown in the assessment by the IUCN Red List (2020):

“While there is no direct evidence, there are concerns for effects of climate change, ocean acidification, oil spills, and other forms of pollution and contaminants (e.g., heavy metals) (Essumang 2010, Ooi et al. 2015, Stewart et al. 2018). Furthermore, shallow water lagoon nursery habitats are subject to habitat loss and degradation that pose threats to juvenile Giant Manta Rays (Stewart et al. 2018).”

Reference list:

International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (2020) Giant Manta Ray. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/198921/68632946#assessment-information (accessed: 1 January 2021)

Wing, M (2019) What happens if you touch a manta ray? Available at: https://mantarayadvocates.com/touch-a-manta-ray/ (accessed: 3 December 2020)

Wing, M. (2020) Are manta rays facing extinction? Available at: https://mantarayadvocates.com/manta-rays-endangered-species-going-extinct/ (accessed: 3 December 2020)

Consulted sources:

Smith, D. (2013) Chinese appetite for shark fin soup devastating Mozambique coastline. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/14/chinese-shark-fin-soup-mozambique (accessed: 8 January 2021)

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Information I have gathered on manta rays during this project:

Manta rays are a type of Cartilaginous fish, called such because their skeletons consist of cartilage (which is a type of tough tissue) and not bone. This also means they are related to sharks, skates and other rays (which are all part of the Elasmobranchs subclassification). Manta rays are also part of the Mobulidae (more commonly known as devil ray) family as they have two cephalic fins, one on either side of the head, which can unroll to help usher in food into their mouths.

Manta Rays are divided into two species: giant (oceanic) manta rays (Mobula birostris) and reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi). I will be referring mostly to giant oceanic manta rays when I discuss manta rays as they are generally what people think of when they refer to manta rays. Giant oceanic manta rays are also slightly more threatened than reef manta rays, shown by the recent (from December 2020) change in classification by IUCN Red List from vulnerable to endangered, while reef manta rays are still classified as vulnerable (International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, 2020). The wingspan of giant oceanic manta rays has been noted to go up to 8.8 meters.

Manta Rays also have the biggest brains (keeping in mind brain to body ratio) of any fish and seem to be able to recognise themselves in the mirror – which would imply they might be self-aware, making them very intelligent. As Blaszczak-Boxe, writing for New Scientist, noted (2016) “Only a small number of animals, mostly primates, have passed the mirror test, widely used as a tentative test of self-awareness.” Although some scientist are still sceptical of manta rays actually recognising themselves in the mirror, the behaviour they displayed in the experiment is unusual and suggest manta rays are more intelligent than many people believed.

As Augliere (2020) notes in an article for the National Geographic, there is also one pink manta ray known to us. He is a reef manta ray known as Inspector Clouseau and he was first sighted in 2015 and seems to live around Lady Elliot Island, Australia as he has been photographed there several times. Manta Rays are filter feeders and eat zooplankton. Manta rays are not harmful – as unlike stingrays they have no stingers.

Reference list:

Augliere, B. (2020) How did this rare pink manta get its colour? Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/02/pink-manta-ray-australia-rare/ (accessed: 5 December 2020)

Blaszczak-Boxe, A. (2016) Manta rays are first fish to recognize themselves in a mirror. Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2081640-manta-rays-are-first-fish-to-recognise-themselves-in-a-mirror/(accessed: 3 December 2020)

International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species (2020) Giant Manta Ray. Available at: https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/198921/68632946#assessment-information (accessed: 1 January 2021)

List of sources I consulted for information on Manta Rays (although some of the information I mention I learnt from visiting aquariums):

Manta Pacific Research Foundation (no date) General Description. Available at: https://www.mantapacific.org/general-description (accessed: 3 December 2020)

National Geographic (no date) Manta Rays. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/group/manta-ray/  (accessed: 3 December 2020)

Oceana (no date) Sharks & Rays: Giant Manta Ray. Available at: https://oceana.org/marine-life/sharks-rays/giant-manta-ray (accessed: 3 December 2020)

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After the meeting with my tutor I decided to redraw the last poster, as I really didn’t like it. I kept the image the same and just redrew the text with the same brush I used for the blue line in the manta ray. I am happier with it now, but I still don’t like it as much as the other designs. My tutor said my posters looked very finished and suggested I pick my 3/4 favourites and work a bit more on those for the final outcome.

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This poster was a way of me trying to take the concept of the last poster and make it more of a poster - including making the writing bigger. I like the image itself but I don’t like how the text turned out. I drew it that way to try and match the line inside the manta ray, but it doesn't really tie the image together. This poster was the last of the ones I drew over the Christmas holidays, and is probably my least favourite from all of those.

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I took a completely different route for this poster and tried to make it as simplistic as possible while still intriguing. I think I managed to do that and I am proud of it, but it does not really look like what a poster should look like. The text is too small so it would be difficult to read from afar and it probably isn’t striking enough for people to go closer in order to read it properly. 

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This poster is based on a similar idea to the last one, the idea of trying to shock people into going to learn more for themselves. I like the background of this poster as well as the text, but I struggled a bit with colouring the manta ray, and I think the poster and colours should maybe have been a bit more subtle.

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For this poster I wanted to draw attention and pique people’s interest in how manta rays are threatened. I think the use of red and blue re quite effective, and I like that I tried adding more manta rays, but overall I think it’s probably more important to try and educate in the poster than try and get people to research for themselves as they may forget. Also I think this poster may be a bit too vague, as it does not mention manta ray anywhere so if someone does not recognise what animal is represented they may not be able to research further.

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With this poster I decided to try, instead of drawing the lines around the manta ray, drawing the lines like waves. I like the top half of this poster but I think I should have taken more time drawing out the bottom text as it’s less careful than that on some of the previous posters. I also think this poster is just not as engaging as the others, perhaps due to the different angle of the ray, which makes the shape less striking and recognisable.

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When I spoke to my tutor he had suggested I look at posters for sci-fi movies for inspiration. I was thinking of more ways to experiment with the use of lines around the manta ray and was inspired by looking at such posters when I made this one. I am happy with the limited colour palette and how the words look, but I am not so happy with the overall look of the poster. The way the manta ray cuts off doesn’t make it as recognisable as I would like and I feel like there is too much dead space.

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These two posters were my second idea for the design with the lines around the manta ray (the one with the black and grey background). I tried to keep the manta ray and background simpler and focus more on the text as the information is the most important part of the poster. I was inspired by the work of Jonny Hannah, who my tutor recommended I look at when he suggested I work on my hand drawn writing. I really like how the text came out. I think it looks stylised and engaging and works with the image because of how I incorporated it in between the lines. I tried changing the colour of the words (as seen in the second version of this poster) but I think the black makes it more bold and easier to read.

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To expand on the last three posters I thought I would try to make a new version focusing on the threats (as that was the most important point I wanted to convey - that manta rays are under threat) and experimenting with different colour schemes. I added the blood to try and make the poster more eye catching as well as to imply how their numbers are decreasing and it could eventually lead to extinction. After making the first version of this poster I felt that the words were a bit dark and difficult to read so I added some lighter red shades to make them more readable. Then I decided to do away with the red altogether in the third version and use the same light blue I used for the ray’s body. I think this version is my favourite of the three as it is the most striking. However I think I still prefer the previous red poster as it includes more information on it.

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For these three posters, I wanted to clean up the earlier poster design I made with the facts in and around the manta ray. I first redrew the manta ray adding textures to the shape and background. Then I rewrote the text, this time planning more which facts I would include and where I would fit them. I then made sure to write out each word neatly. I think they all look better than the version I did before, although I did separate them into three posters to show how it looks with just the writing inside the shape, just the writing outside the shape, and both. I wanted to show all three as I originally thought the poster with both was two crowded. Although, after looking at it longer I am now more pleased with it, especially as it conveys all the information I wanted it to.

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Reading Report 2: All Animals Are Equal:

For my second reading report I chose the extract from Peter Singer’s book ‘Animal Liberation’ (pp. 1-9). This extract was very focused on trying to argue for equal rights for animals. As we discussed in our seminar, the book was originally published in 1975 after women were given the right to vote (which was 1902 for white women in Australia – Peter Singer is Australian – and 1968 for Australian women who were not white) and after the big civil rights protests of the 1960’s in America. This suggests that Singer possibly wanted to use the momentum of women’s rights and the rights of black people becoming more widely accepted, to suggest that animal rights should also start to be accepted. He in fact relates both women’s rights and the rights of black people to the issue of animal rights. Singer argues that sexism and racism are wrong, not because they imply that women or people of colour are inferior, but because they are morally wrong.

Singer’s main arguments in this extract are: that because animals can suffer they should be granted equal rights, if a being has interests those should be covered by rights, and that these two concepts are linked. This can be seen where he states: “The capacity for suffering and enjoyment Is a prerequisite for having interests at all, a condition that must be satisfied before we can speak of interests in a meaningful way.” (pp. 7)

I think that his arguments that animals deserve rights because they can suffer is an important point which I agree with. It is also probably a good starting point for introducing the idea of animal rights, as it encourages humans to think of how they can relate to other animals. As Singer states: “If a being suffers there can be no moral justification for refusing to take that suffering into consideration.” (pp. 8) I feel that, regardless of the issues of rights, many people would agree with that statement and so to extend that argument to the issue of rights is a sensible move. However, I feel that Singer’s way of reaching these points by comparing the rights of women and black people to the rights of animals can be a bit confusing and misleading, although probably appropriate for the time in which he was writing. His writing itself is quite longwinded and sometimes difficult to follow, although it may have be necessary to expand on one point for a long time given it was a relatively new concept at the time.

This extract relates to my project as I am attempting to use my posters educate people on the threats manta rays are facing, and people are more likely to take that into consideration and campaign for further protection of manta rays if they believe that manta rays, as animals, deserve rights, or at the very least understand that they can also suffer. This is why I like the poster I made that includes facts about manta rays because that can inform people of how intelligent they are and make them easier to understand and therefore relate to as beings. When I was searching for more information on manta rays I even found an article by Lauren Smith (a shark biologist) who argues that fish (including manta rays) are not afforded as much protection as other animals because people (which also implies the people who make the laws regarding protection of animals) believe they are less intelligent. She even writes: “from a welfare perspective, most researchers would suggest that if an animal is sentient, then it can most likely suffer and should therefore be offered some form of formal protection” (Smith, 2018) which is a very similar argument to the one Singer introduces in his book.

Reference list:

Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, second edition (London: Pimlico, 1995), pp. 1–9.

Heath, N. (2018) Australia In Colour: The fight for women’s suffrage. Available at:

https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2019/03/04/australia-colour-fight-womens-suffrage(accessed: 20 December 2020)

Smith, L. (2018) Mirrors have revealed something new about manta rays – and it reflects badly on us. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/feb/27/mirrors-have-revealed-something-new-about-manta-rays-and-it-reflects-badly-on-us (accessed: 3 December 2020)