New River Fine Art

X-Press Pearl was a Singapore-registered Super Eco 2700–class container ship. On May 20, 2021, X-Press Pearl caught fire off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The vessel, carrying over 1,486 containers, became fully engulfed in flames on May 27, 2021. After burning for 12 days, the vessel sank on June 2, 2021. As it burned and sank, it spilled its cargo, including 378 tons of oil, 25 tons of nitric acid, and 171,000 pounds of low-density plastic pellets. It is currently responsible for the deaths of over 176 turtles, 20 dolphins, 4 whales, and thousands of fish. The incident was deemed the worst marine ecological disaster in Sri Lankan history, impacting this busy port city with not only chemical ruin that caused acid rains, but affected the lives of over 4,300 families with a temporary fishing ban that was caused by the non-biodegradable plastic pellet pollution.

Ink, Chalk, Graphite on Paper, Mounted on Canvas.

24x30x2 in