Connecting ocean lovers, art & conservation

We’re excited to announce that we’re back on board with the Wavescape festival!

This year, we have some great conservation-themed instalments to add to their ocean-themed line-up, which underlines our strong focus on media advocacy and awareness.

Home to our Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa is also one of the top three global hot-spots for shark and ray biodiversity in the world. It’s estimated that there are over 200 different species of sharks and rays found in its waters. It is our hope to ensure that the shark populations of South Africa are healthy, as these populations can spill over and contribute towards global ocean health.

Shot on assignment for National Geographic on sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Thomas Peschak surrounded by a gang of inquisitive, fluffy, down-feathered king penguin chicks who had waddled more than one hundred feet to investigate him. Photo © Thomas Peschak.

As part of the Wavescape partnership, SOSF presents an outdoor photographic exhibit – WILD SEAS by National Geographic Photographer Thomas Peschak – that features his most iconic images from two decades of documenting the beauty and fragility of the world’s oceans. The exhibit will be positioned along the Sea Point promenade wall, metres from the wild Atlantic Ocean.

Wild Seas by Thomas Peschak. A wildlife photographic exhibit along the Seapoint pormenade in Cape Town, South Africa. Photo © Byron Dilkes

Photo © Byron Dilkes

‘We work to connect people with the ocean, understand its fragility and how they can help. Cape Town is the perfect location to celebrate coexistence of people and marine life, and Wavescape the perfect conduit to channel this passion. WILD SEAS by Thomas Peschak presents a stunning range of iconic imagery that encapsulates the ephemeral beauty of our natural world, and highlights some of the stark realities our oceans face.’ says James Lea, our CEO.

Green turtles on the shallow banks of the Bahamas. One of the 31 images which will be part of the WILD SEAS outdoor photography exhibition. Photo © Thomas Peschak

We also teamed up with multi-faceted mixed-media artist Chris Auret to create an ocean-conscious mural along the Sea Point promenade. Auret has taken part in a number of group shows, created album artworks for well-known musicians and painted murals across the world.

“Art is an incredibly powerful tool. It can stir emotion and invoke ideas in ways no other medium can. We are delighted to have teamed up with Chris Auret to create this vibrant inspiring mural of our connection to sharks, and how their future really is in our hands.” continued Dr Lea.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Wavescape Surf & Ocean Festival presented by Vans has taken on a diverse programme of online and hybrid events, including takes place in Cape Town from Friday 4 to Saturday 12 December and will include outdoor films with The Galileo Open Air Cinema. This partnership with Galileo brings with it a drive-in surf movie cinema in Constantia and an outdoor film at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, adding a welcome physical element to the festival.

In other cutting-edge developments, the flagship event, Slide Night, has gone virtual, which has enabled international speakers to take part. Among them conservation and nature photographers Cristina Goettsch Mittermeier and Chris Burkard, as well as multi-faceted surf entrepreneur Paul Naude and Australian longboard superstar Belinda Baggs. Among the South African speakers is Sarah Waries from the Shark Spotters, which is a long-term partner of the Save Our Seas Foundation. She will be discussing exciting new research about the efficacy of the shark spotting programme.

We are looking forward to a wonderful week of interactions with like-minded people. Working together to inspire and educate the public about our oceans, while coming together to appreciate the beauty of South Africa’s coastline and the awe-inspiring creatures that call this place home.