Using conservation photography, and focusing on Tampa Bay, the artist's installation focuses on Tampa Bay's environment and wildlife. The final images will be displayed digitally through a portal prototype.
The Portal prototype will consist of LED screens in a bank of windows located at the northwest corner of Platt Street & Franklin Street adjacent to the Tampa Convention Center and will feature the work of Carlton Ward, Jr. The Portals are artistic and educational in function and intent, providing user groups with a variety of content that focuses on Arts and Culture, Environment, and Well Being. This strong educational component includes a coalition of specialists from each of the core content areas and is part of the Riverwalk Cultural Plan.
Tampa Bay: Living Waters
Photographs by Carlton Ward Jr For Lights on Tampa 2009
"Tampa Bay is a geographic place for 3 million people who call the area home. Tampa Bay is a concept that provides collective identity across three counties and four major cities. Tampa Bay is known nationally for the Lightening, Rays and Buccaneers. Tampa Bay is host to the Superbowl in 2009. Yet first and foremost, Tampa Bay is a bay. It is the largest open water estuary in Florida and it is the ecosystem that defines and sustains the region that borrows its name. This photography portfolio celebrates the natural wonder of the original Tampa Bay and the humanity connected to its living waters. I want people to be inspired by the beauty of the bay and to learn what makes it unique. Forty miles long and 400 square miles across, Tampa Bay is the culmination of six rivers and over 100 tributaries, connecting seven counties and drawing from a watershed covering 2,200 square miles. The bay is home to more than 200 species of fish, as well as dolphins, sea turtles and manatees. Birdlife is abundant and endangered species find refuge. Crystal clear springs flow to form rapids as it descends the Hillsborough River and tidal waters meet the white sand beaches and surf from the Gulf of Mexico. Through its beauty, I also want people to appreciate the bay's fragility. The nation's tenth largest domestic trade cargo port can coexist with the nation's largest nesting colony or roseate spoonbills, commercial fisheries can coexist with waterfront housing, and the rivers can continue to flow while quenching the thirst of millions. But not without our help. We must appreciate and protect to estuary that sustains us. The future of the bay and the future of the region depends on it." -- Carlton Ward, Jr.
BRIEF BIO: Carlton Ward Jr. is an environmental photojournalist from Clearwater, Florida, with graduate training in ecology and anthropology. Through his photographs, he aims to promote conservation of natural environments and cultural legacies. Carlton 's passion for nature was born from the Florida landscape, where eight generations of family history have grounded his perspective. He sees cultural heritage and the natural environment as two of society's greatest yet most threatened resources. He regularly produces stories for newspapers and magazines including recent features in Smithsonian, National Wildlife, Africa Geographic, and Outdoor Photographer. In 2004, Carlton founded the Legacy Institute for Nature & Culture (LINC), a non-profit organization for conservation communications. LINC's mission is to raise awareness for natural environments and cultural legacies, educate about important connections between human societies and natural ecosystems, and promote conservation of natural heritage.
www.carltonward.com
