Eip Kor Korr Item Number: 3306/1 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Large sea turtle figure made from reclaimed plastic fishing nets ("ghost nets"), plastic twine and rope. Figure has a partial metal frame inside.
Erub Island is located in the Torres Strait Islands, north of Australia. Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists from the Erub Arts Collaborative have worked with ghost nets (abandoned fishing nets) to create sculptural marine life including coral, fish, turtles, sharks and jellyfish. Many of these creations were featured in an exhibtion called "Ghost Nets of the Ocean", in Australia, which brought to light the artists’ concerns for the environmental damage caused by rogue nets, and the irreparable harm that discarded nets cause to marine life. While creating the sculpture, the Erub Arts Collaborative artists decided this turtle would be a mid-sized female turtle, with the name Eip Kor Korr. Before being shipped to the Museum, the turtle was shipped to the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, to be displayed alongside other 'ghost-net' sculptures.