“Site R16 Transect 1” at Royal Palm South Beach(2021)
Lauren Shapiro merges ceramics, technology and science to build a physical incarnation of a lost coral reef in her most recent site-specific work, Site R16 Transect 1, a monument showcasing the organic textures and colors of an ecologically diverse marine landscape.
Once hidden beneath the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands in the French Frigate Shoals, Rapture Reef was flattened in 2018 by a hurricane strengthened by the effects of climate change.
Molded and cast from a prototype of 3D photogrammetry scans by marine ecologists, Site R16 Transect 1 reflects this now-extinct coral population, making it visible again to land dwellers in the form of dimensional clay tiles stacked inside of a gold-framed monolith.
