Hannah Sul’s “Ebb of Color” - 2025 Winner

Hannah Sul’s “Ebb of Color” 
Sculpture & Mixed Media: toilet paper, crafting wire, plastic wrap, air-dry clay, tinfoil, liquid glue, acrylic paint, white spray paint, coffee filters, styrofoam, seashells, egg cartons, pearls, q-tips, toothpicks, headband, yarn, watercolor 
Lexington, MA 

This piece symbolizes the devastating effects of coral bleaching I learned in my freshman Earth Science class, where rising ocean temperatures cause corals to expel their algae, leaving them white and disrupting marine ecosystems. Fascinators, with their intricate and eye-catching beauty, seemed like the perfect medium to show the vibrance of coral reefs. By physically wearing a coral reef scene, I wanted to emphasize that humans and Earth are one—we are part of nature. After painting the design, I sprayed it almost entirely white to reflect the sharp contrast of coral reefs losing their color. I left a small part of the reef in color to symbolize the remaining hope. But we shouldn’t use that hope as an excuse to assume these environmental conditions will improve on their own and remain bystanders. Instead, we must use it to believe that change is possible once we take action.