May 28—A group of painters, dancers and sculptors waded through the shin-high tidal flood waters of Portland’s waterfront after midnight Tuesday to highlight fair-weather sea level rise and the need to document climate change impacts that happen when most people are sleeping.
The king tide, projected to rise 11 feet, 6 inches, flooded the wharves, piers and parking lots along Commercial Street early Wednesday. Garbage truck drivers dodged puddles. Bar workers waded out to parked cars. And in certain areas, artists and citizen scientists found inspiration.
“I grew up in Camp Ellis and literally watched a house that my grandfather built get washed away, so I know the threat is real, but art speaks to me in a way that other things don’t,” said Laura Baker, a Portland nurse who came to the walk after her shift ended. “It helps me find hope in the scary.”
The part-science, part-art event by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute was organized by community science fellow Evan Paris to help people explore their emotional response to climate change while publicizing the difficulty of documenting the effects of climate change that no one can see.
“We are at the peak of the spring high-water season, but all the flooding is happening very late, when no one is awake to observe it or collect data about it,” Paris said. “People need to know it’s still happening. I thought this would shine a light on midnight flooding in a really powerful way.”
The performance artists in Judith Greene Janse’s piece, “Everything Has Changed,” channeled a family struggling to cook, clean and stay dry as the rising sea water overtakes their metal frame home in high water pooling near Luke’s Lobster on Portland Pier just before midnight on Tuesday.
“It is impossible to not be aware at some level that the environment that we always taken for granted is no longer granted to us nor or descendants, but yet we carry on,” Greene Janse, a painter, wrote in her artist statement about the piece. “Everything has changed and nothing has changed.”
Imposing steel-frame kelp structures by Portland sculptor Ian Ellis line a water-logged guard rail on Widgery Wharf. Just before 1 a.m., the spring tide is still rising. By morning, Ellis’ sculptures will be gone, but real seaweed carried in by the flood waters will remain on the lower parking lot.
“This is a way to draw attention to the rising sea levels that we are all facing and a way to engage with the local community and get people interested in taking action,” Ellis said. “What action? I guess it depends on the person. Protect the shore, protect ourselves, stop making things worse.”
BEING THERE
Two dancers wearing fabric seaweed costumes made out of frayed abandoned fishing rope danced at the water’s edge at Portland Pier, Widgery Wharf and GMRI’s own oft-flooded backyard. Wooden sculptures of fishermen, fish and flowers were installed in the flood-prone places, photographed, then taken down.
“As a citizen scientist, you have to be there when it’s flooding to collect the data,” Paris told members of the after-hours climate art walk. “Like these flood waters, this art is only up for tonight. Sometimes, you just have to be there, whether it’s to do the science or do the art.”
GMRI operates a coastal flooding project that teaches non-scientists how to collect weather and water conditions during king tides and storms to identify local high-risk flooding areas, guide policy decisions and build community resilience, said program manager Gayle Bowness.
People are more likely to take action when they witness climate change happening, Bowness said. The 2024 winter storms were a wake-up call for many Mainers, she said. Storms like those will only get worse due as our seas rise, she said, expanding due to rising temperatures and melting sea ice.
While this art walk had a hyper-local focus, sea level rise haunts most of the Maine coast, which is why GMRI trains people to collect local flooding data throughout the state’s coastal communities. Maine sea levels are projected to rise between 1.1 and 3.2 feet by 2050 and 3 and 9.3 feet by 2100.
Gulf of Maine sea levels are projected to rise faster than the global average because it is susceptible to changes in the Gulf Stream and seasonal wind patterns, according to the Island Institute, a Rockland-based nonprofit advocacy and research group that serves Maine’s coastal and island communities.
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Portland exhibit, presentation will explore climate change through art
The Union of Maine Visual Artists is presenting “Washed Away,” an exhibition of work by 60 artists exploring personal and environmental transformation in a time of rapid change. This exhibit will be on view at the Portland Public Library between 5:30-7 p.m. until June 21.
In connection with the exhibit, Gayle Bowness and Evan Paris from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute will be at the library on June 12 at 5:30 p.m. to lead a presentation titled “Coastal Flooding: Understanding Local Impacts through Science and Art.” They will discuss the science behind sea level rise, projections for Maine, and the local impacts of tidal and storm-related flooding.
This event is free and open to the public.
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