The Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival, which recently raised a record R712,000 for ocean charities, continues its ocean work with a global art collaboration called Sea Walls: South Africa.
Sea Walls: South Africa, presented by the Save Our Seas Foundation, has been formed by Wavescape, SJ Artists and the Pangeaseed Foundation, an international nonprofit that merges art and culture with ocean conservation and activism. To announce Sea Walls: South Africa, which takes place from 3 to 11 November, the first of several murals was commissioned in Cape Town during the Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival, presented by Vans.
Cape Town mural artist @nard_star created a mural on a wall along the Sea Point promenade that joins a network of more than 500 ocean-inspired walls in cities from 19 countries around the world. The Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans programme subscribes to the motto, “A Drop of Paint Can Create an Ocean of Change”.
A synergy between art and activism – or “ARTivism” as coined by the founder of the Pangeaseed Foundation, Tre Packard – will come to selected street venues around Cape Town to evoke an emotive connection to the flora and fauna of the ocean, thus driving public awareness of critical ocean issues. According to Packard, Sea Walls is a “weapon of mass construction that touches our hearts. Leveraging the universal power of art, we inspire the world to protect what we love with the generous support of our global network of ARTivists”.
Art and ocean conservation is a key underlying force behind the Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival, which raised R712 000 for ocean organisations, the NSRI, 9miles Project, Shark Spotters, Beach Co-op and Ocean Pledge. About 250 people gathered at Jack Black’s Taproom as comedian Nik Rabinowitz teased and cajoled pundits to part with their cash for 10 artistically decorated boards by Brett Murray, Marty Lund, Justin Southey, Lee-Ann Heath, Marie-Louise Koen, Liberty Battson, Amy-Lee Tak, Fhatuwani Mukheli, and Dbongz Mahlathi.
The costliest board – a hyper-realistic portrait of environmental legend David Attenborough by Marti Lund – went for R115,000 to American filmmaker Michael Ien Cohen, fresh from California to host the last official event of the Wavescape festival, his award winning film Humanity Stoked at the Labia Theatre, an experiment into how humanity can move forward as espoused by iconic skateboarders, activists, scientists, and artists unified by urban skateboard culture. Cohen said that when he returned to the US, he would have the board signed by famous American surfers and skaters, and auction it again for youth development programmes.
The festival opened with a sellout outdoor screening of Birth of the Endless Summer, attended by more than 700 people at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in partnership with the Galileo Cinema. More than 70 young people attended the screening of three films at Bertha Movie House at the Isivivana centre in Khayelitsha. After the films, Wavescape and 9Miles Project took the kids for an in-person ocean session and surf lesson at at Strandfontein Beach. A flagship festival event, Slide Night, saw eight salty seafarers, from scientists to big wave surfers, talk for 10 minutes on a variety of ocean topics at the prestigious Centre for the Book in Cape Town. Several members of the American Consulate team attended.
The festival moved on to team up with the Beach Co-op and Shark Spotters for an Undersea Cleanup in Fish Hoek, when 50 snorkel divers pulled up many bags of seabed trash, with China TV in attendance to do a story. The Board Meeting again took place at Jack Black’s Taproom, with more than 400 people passing through during the day to swap or buy surfboards, and enjoy each other’s company around the art and craft of surfing. There demonstrations by sustainable surf products and eco-conscious brands, as well as children’s activities, set to the musical vibes of DJ Roastin’ Records. Sixty people attended and competed in the alternative surf event hosted by the Sunburnt Surf Club, who later put on two soulful surf movies at the Labia, which was well attended by a full house of 150 people.
The final event was the Blue Ocean Masterclass, presented by Wesgro, which focused on aerial filming above the coast and ocean. Gyrocopter pilot Jean Tresfon gave some do’s and don’ts when filming from the air, and etiquette between passenger and pilot. A presentation by founder of Darkwing Aerials Dean Engela was shown, with examples of the footage they have produced for clients. Top content creator Hloni Coleman spoke about regulatory and other challenges facing the drone industry, and trends and techniques fresh from his overseas travels. Orms sales guru Jakkie le Roux brought top-end drones for participants to ogle.
In the wake left by the Wavescape festival, their podcast collaboration with Steve Shooter from Shredding the Gnar will continue with the release of interviews and reels that feature participants, friends and partners of the festival, as well as the broader ocean community.
Wavescape will also launch its long awaited new website, which merges the festival and the forecasting website into one platform for surfing and conservation content and ocean awareness.
