The Save Our Seas Foundation teams up with Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival |03 December 2020
Save Our Seas Mural Wall by Chris Auret at Wavescape 2020 (Photo by Nicola Poulos © Save Our Seas Foundation
The Save Our Seas Foundation (SOSF), which supports shark and rays conservation projects worldwide, has partnered with the Wavescape Surf and Ocean Festival to underline their strong focus on media advocacy and awareness.
To this end, the SOSF presents an outdoor photographic exhibit – WILD SEAS by National Geographic photographer Thomas Peschak – that features his most iconic images from two decades of documenting the beauty and fragility of the world’s oceans.
The exhibit is going up along the Sea Point promenade metres from the wild Atlantic Ocean just east of Cape Town.
Dr James Lea, the chief executive of the SOSF, said: “We work to connect people with the ocean, understand its fragility and how they can help. Cape Town is the perfect location to celebrate coexistence of people and marine life, and Wavescape the perfect conduit to channel this passion. WILD SEAS by Thomas Peschak presents a stunning range of iconic imagery that encapsulates the ephemeral beauty of our natural world, and highlights some of the stark realities our oceans face.”
The SOSF has also teamed up with multi-faceted mixed-media artist Chris Auret to create an ocean-conscious mural along the Sea Point promenade. Auret has taken part in a number of group shows, created album artworks for well-known musicians and painted murals across the world.
“Art is an incredibly powerful tool. It can stir emotion and invoke ideas in ways no other medium can. We are delighted to have teamed up with Chris Auret to create this vibrant inspiring mural of our connection to sharks, and how their future really is in our hands,” continued Dr Lea.
A revitalised Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival presented by Vans takes place in Cape Town from tomorrow, December 4, to December 12 and will include outdoor films with The Galileo Open Air Cinema. The partnership with Galileo – a drive-in surf movie in Constantia and an outdoor film at Kirstenbosch Gardens – will add a welcome physical element to a diverse programme of online and hybrid events hosted by Wavescape in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
For this year’s artwork, Wavescape collaborates with young South African artist Yay Abe, utilising a theme of “adaptation” as the world slowly evolves into a post-pandemic future.
In other cutting-edge developments, the flagship ocean evening of talks, Slide Night, has gone virtual, which has enabled international speakers to take part, among them conservation and nature photographers Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier and Chris Burkard, as well as multi-faceted surf entrepreneur Paul Naude and Australian longboard superstar Belinda Baggs. Among the South African speakers are Sarah Waries of the Shark Spotters, which is a long-term partner of the SOSF. She will be discussing exciting new research about the efficacy of the shark spotting programme.
With the support of the Wesgro Film and Promotion Unit, Wavescape transforms the Blue Ocean Masterclass into a virtual discussion on film industry best practices and innovative initiatives to keep film shoots plastic free. The webinar will include top conservation speakers and activists speaking on topics from virtual reality to shooting underwater.
Other events and elements of the festival include Zag Shorts – a Wavescape collaboration with Zigzag Surfing Magazine. This short film competition for surf and ocean filmmakers culminates in an evening featuring the best 10 films followed by an awards ceremony and Q&A with the winners at Jack Black’s Taproom on Friday December 11.
Beyond the innovative nature of Wavescape this year, which is part virtual and part physical, organisers look forward to meeting you in the open air at a beach clean-up day of live performances and mural making with The Beach Co-op, as well as the Spike Swell Course – a virtual evening of wave science and forecasting with Spike from Wavescape.co.za.
Thanks to the following festival partners: Vans, The Save Our Seas Foundation, Long Beach Capital, PETCO, Jack Black Beer, Wesgro and the Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation.
EVENT LINE-UP
- Fri 4 Dec: Drive In Surf Movies with The Galileo (Constantia) (Limited tickets)
- Sat 5 & Sun 6 Dec: Online Film Festival Day 1 (24hour pass)
- Sat 5 Dec: Skateboard Art Exhibition by Craig Cockcroft at The Shred
- Sun 6 Dec: Beach Co-op mural, performance & beach clean-up.
- Tues 8 Dec: Blue Oceans Masterclass – plastic free, virtual reality and underwater realms
- Tues 8 Dec: Spike Swell Course: virtual evening of wave science & forecasting
- Wed 9 Dec: Slide Night (online with speakers from South Africa and globally)
- Thu 10 Dec: Outdoor screening at Kirstenbosch with The Galileo (Limited tickets)
- Fri 11 Dec: Zag Shorts - evening of surf film shorts at Jack Black’s Taproom
- Sat 12 & Sun 13 Dec: Online Film Festival Day 2 (24hr pass)
OTHER ELEMENTS
- Save Our Seas Foundation Photographic exhibition on the Sea Point promenade by Thomas Peschak
- Save our Seas Foundation Mural on the Sea Point promenade by artist Chris Auret
- Art-decorated Vans sneakers – Online auction
- Limited edition of posters, tees and totes
- One Brett Murray artboard – Online Auction
Media kit, info, ticket links and social media on www.wavescapefestival.com
Main Festival Tickets can be found on Quicket
Film Festival with The Galileo
https://thegalileo.co.za/movie/wavescape/ & https://thegalileo.co.za/movie/wavescape-2/
Instagram & Facebook @wavescapeSA
Contributed
