Rising Seas, Maya Treitman

For my final project, I chose to create the first part of a potential paper cut-out series that focuses on how different countries around the globe are affected by rising sea levels. This project and video is about Bangladesh and how the rising sea levels are causing dangerous river bank erosion forcing many people to flee. As early as the 1960s, the Bangladesh government has been building embankments along these rivers to protect low-lying communities, but these structures are deteriorating over time. The government has proposed a 2-Billion dollar multi-phase plan to reinforce these structures.  This was new ground for me, I have never worked with paper cutting before, but I was excited to combine that with my love of watercolor to create something really beautiful. Being able to work and create with my hands is a rare opportunity so I fully intended to take advantage of it and enjoyed learning on the go. The execution of this project did not go exactly as I envisioned it, but it is still something I’m proud of.  The first daunting task became obvious to me right at the beginning. How can I summarize this massive issue in an easy-to-understand, aesthetically looking video, so that it has the best chance to circulate online? Personally, I follow many artists online and on platforms such as Tik Tok, and am mesmerized by timelines of them working in whatever medium they choose. I can scroll through videos like that for hours, so I attempted to mimic that all while educating my viewers on climate refugees. It was also important for me to stick to a certain color palette to match my work so the video seems more cohesive and aesthetically pleasing. You only have a few seconds to capture someone’s attention. That being said, my film can not be posted on a platform like Tik Tok because it is too long, It would probably have the best chance of gaining attention on YouTube.  As of now, I have posted it on Vimeo and NYU Stream so it is too soon to tell how successful I am at reaching a large group of people  

My piece consists of four separate layers. The deepest layer represents the 17,000 km2 of land that will be impacted if sea levels rise by one meter. Approximately, 15 million people live within this section near the Bay of Bengal. The second layer expands on the first and depicts the more heavily populated areas of Bangladesh. The painting on this layer emphasizes that the majority of people live near the Padma and the Surma-Meghna rivers. As the sea levels rise so does the salinization of these rivers which is already causing erosion. The increase of salt in the water is also affecting farmers and has caused many to either move more in-land or to switch farming items like rice to shrimp and other seafood. The third layer is an outline of the whole country. On this layer, I did the most detailed watercolor. Towards the bottom of the layer, I painted some buildings famous in Dhaka’s skyline. I tried to include both modern and traditional architecture. The purple shapes represent the interesting windows of Bangladesh’s National Parliament. The blue cascading lines on the upper right corner are supposed to represent the National Martyrs’ Memorial which was built to remember those who fought in the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971. I included water lilies, Bangladesh’s national flower, as well as palm trees. The fourth and final layer is a boat which represents the importance of the many rivers that flow and connect the country.  This project has definitely encouraged me to learn more about how rising sea levels affect populations differently. I have also become more aware of the difficult decisions climate refugees make. The strategies of these migrants are different from migrants fleeing from corrupt governments or war, the families who leave will not have a home to return to. Families need to decide if it is worth relocation if that is an option they can afford. Additionally, in the US, high-income communities are often located by the coast. Many of these wealthy families are choosing to relocate inland to avoid rising water and severe weather. Unfortunately, this is causing the gentrification of many low-income inland communities.  There is so much more I could have included in my video, and another hurdle I came across was what to cut and what to include. This problem is enormous, but no one will want to watch a 20-minute video about rising sea levels if they stumble across my film on a whim. I tried to just explain the basics and end it on a happy note. I am not trying to downplay this problem but make it more digestible for the average viewer, and hopefully pique their interest, and encourage them to click on my next video (if this becomes a series).  Works Cited: https://phys.org/news/2019-09-refugees-seas-home.html https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Ocean-fact-sheet-package.pdf https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/the-world-s-coastal-cities-are-going-under-here-is-how-some-are-fighting-back/#:~:text=So%2Dcalled%20%E2%80%9Cdelta%20cities%E2%80%9D,%2C%20Rotterdam%2C%20Tokyo%20and%20Venice. https://ejfoundation.org/reports/climate-displacement-in-bangladesh#:~:text=By%202050%2C%20with%20a%20projected,exacerbated%20by%20rising%20sea%20levels. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-019-0002-9?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=organic&utm_campaign=NRRJ_2_SJB_reviews_editorial_socialposts&fbclid=IwAR2mLfaV467f76gkwbsuKBOWMJ80NqLxwToyUBwXIAQI_avYLb2_ZJTjZlQ Music by Alexei Surovyk