Idyllic beaches and desert dunes –something far from an urban landscape. That’s what we most commonly have in mind when we think of sand as such. Most of us are not even aware of the presence of sand in our everyday life, though its commonly used in glass manufacturing, paint and coatings, filtration and for constructions. Sand is considered to be the second most used natural resource on Earth. Most extraction take place in rivers, deltas, coasts and marine systems. The general range of sand particles is by definition 0,06- 2mm. Depending on the grain size, the sand can be used for different purposes. As our population grows, our cities grow as well – sand is a cheap and easy component for concrete, mortars, plasters and floor filling and serves the construction industry. As a consequence, the world-wide removal of sand exceeds the natural renewal rate. The environmental impacts that this exploitation causes are tremendous and range from biodiversity loss and deforestation to costal erosion. The effect is not only harmful for the flora and fauna itself – countries depending on tourism are affected by the erosions of beaches. Economic impacts like local and commercial fishing is affected by destruction of the seabed. Furthermore, sand mining has a direct (transportation) and indirect (cement production) impact on greenhouse emissions. Overall, there is a large discrepancy between the magnitude of the problem and public awareness of it. There is no monitoring or control system for sand extraction. This undoubtedly contributes to the gap in knowledge, which translates into a lack of action. We would like to take this opportunity to create more awareness about this issue by making it visible through art. – This is a project I was working on together with my friend Kaja Dajanowska, who is currently making her master degree in biology.
All Paintings „Portraits of sand grains“, oil on canvas 50×70 cm, 2020-21
