Cole's Brief:

   Illegal Sea Foods is a series of murals about shark fining and killing and how it affects the environment as a whole.  Shark fining, and the serving of shark fin soup, while illegal in most US states, still exists around the world and is still a problem. Hundreds of millions of sharks are killed every year, leading to most species of shark becoming endangered. This causes the fish population to grow to extreme sizes, and then because of that all of their food sources and coral reefs get destroyed.  

   This project isn't aimed at solving this problem, but bringing attention to it through a statement piece.  It is a series of spray painted murals, each painted in a different style and with slightly varying messages meant to make people really think about this problem.  One depicts the destruction of reefs and the fish population, while another shows a fin-less shark jumping out of a soup pot.


Jake's Brief:

   Illegal Sea Foods is a series of mural graffiti art that bring awareness to the immoral and cruel nature behind shark fining and its consequences. Living in coastal areas leads you to learn about the ocean and its creatures, through this we’ve learned that sharks are not only misunderstood but alienated due to pop cultural trends through the years. Sharks being apex predators are an integral piece of the food chain, without them catastrophic damage would be done to our oceans ecosystem.

   Shark fining kills around 88-110 million sharks around the world each year, with such an extent forcing some species to be considered endangered. While shark fin trade has been banned in much of the U.S., such as Massachusetts, there are still numerous restaurants in Boston and around the U.S. that still serve shark fins on their menus. Using graffiti art murals in urban areas, we intend on bringing awareness to the barbaric practice of shark fining and the necessity of sharks in our oceans.