Hannah Keats

Lionfish Salsa

Through oil painting and installation work, my practice explores the complex nature of invasive species and how they change the environments they exist in. No part of nature is untouched by humans and invasive species are an example of how humans have intervened in spaces and created ecological problems, but there may be some benefits to invasive species long term as well as negatives. Invasive species also pose a series of ethical dilemmas because people have largely introduced them to the areas they inhabit, so is it ethical to get rid of them, or do we embrace the environmental shift that occurs with the introduction of these species? Additionally, humans tend to separate nature from themselves in order to separate themselves from the larger issues at hand, so my work seeks to create connections between the viewers and the very real environmental problems that are faced every day. How can humans interact with the environment in a positive way? By using invasive species as the starting point for my research, I get into the nuances of how complicated human intervention on the environment is and how there is no clear answer for how we can fix the ecological problems that we’ve created. By utilizing oil paint on wood panel, I depict closeup and abstracted views of invasive species to grapple with how they change the environment. Furthermore, the delineation of form showcases the shift in the environment as a whole.

Artwork Description

This piece examines the impact of lionfish in Florida and the Caribbean by creating bold saturated paintings and patterns of the lionfish to demonstrate how they were treated as a commodity before they became invasive. In the 1980s, massive numbers of lionfish were released on the east coast of Florida, and they began to rapidly outcompete native fish species. Additionally, they have no predators in the areas they are invading due to their venomous spines. Since the 1980s, when we started witnessing their rising populations, we have inversely seen the drop of native fish species by over 70 percent. Even with these shocking statistics, the numbers of lionfish sold to people in aquariums is staggering, and local governments are turning to unconventional ways to contain the growing fish populations. Florida has created sport fishing tournaments and bounties for people who help curb the lionfish population. And while that solution seems to be the only viable answer at the moment, it also raises its own ethical dilemmas. If we want to fight the damage caused by the commodification of lionfish, why are we trying to commodify them in a different way? We put them there, so is it ethical to remove them violently?