Spongeorama
In Collaboration with Hope Ginsburg and USF Tampa Art Students, including Artist Ashley Rivers- The Nature of Fire, and others.

Sponge Exchange, facilitated by artist Hope Ginsburg, uses sea sponges and hard corals as a metaphor for exchange and the ecology of learning to stimulate social transformation. Diving into the local sponge culture of Tarpon Springs, Florida, known as “The Sponge Capital of the World,” The new work explores past challenges to the local sponge industry, raises awareness and understanding of how the health of marine invertebrates is deeply tied to the environment and economic life of the region, and serves as a catalyst for imagining productive solutions for the future.

Inspired by the idiosyncratic and educational dioramas of the Spongeorama Museum, which depicts the rich history and culture of sponge-diving in Tarpon Springs, Florida, the exhibition also featured a series of reimagined dioramas, created by the USF art students. The three-dimensional dioramas explore the issues related to climate change within Florida’s natural, cultural and economic ecologies.