23-01_Dust from Sahara Desert to Amazon_Interconnectedness

Gouache, graphite, collage, transparent fabric over a piece of punctured paper over clay board

15 x 26 x 2"

2023

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This is another work based on the scientific discovery about all beings are interconnected, and sustain life on Earth. From the dried-up Lake Mega-Chad in the Sahara Desert, 150 million tons of the fossilized remains are ground into fine dust and lifted up by the wind, and dropped in the Atlantic Ocean and Amazon forest yearly. In the Atlantic Ocean, planktons use it as a nutrient source, absorb carbon dioxide, and produce oxygen into the atmosphere. About half of the oxygen in the atmosphere is produced by the ocean phytoplankton. Furthermore, dust is dropped in the Amazon rainforest. Its infertile soil by constant rain and flood washing away the nutrients are replenished by this dust. Amazon rainforest is called the “lungs of the planet” because they draw in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen.