by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson

Artwork Description

What Remains After the Flood by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson

100.0 x 100.0 cm

What Remains After the Flood Artist: Laura Bernardeschi Nelson Medium: Acrylics, oil pastels, spray paint, beach sand, reclaimed plastic, wood, hot glue, and real dried seaweed on canvas Dimensions: 100 × 100 cm Year: 2025 Varnished: Yes Signed: Front and back Framing: Unframed Collection: Climate Change Collection Technical Description This large mixed-media work is created using layered acrylic washes and oil pastel textures to establish the depth and movement of an underwater environment. Beach sand is integrated into the paint to form organic, grainy surfaces reminiscent of eroded seabeds and decaying architecture. Reclaimed plastic, wood fragments, and dried seaweed are attached using hot glue, creating sculptural elements that rise from the canvas and cast subtle shadows, enhancing the sense of suspension and drift. Spray paint veils the structures in a soft atmospheric haze, while the hand-built, translucent “fishbellies” (inspired by early primordial life forms) shimmer with iridescent purples and blues. The combination of traditional fine-art materials with found ocean debris mirrors the theme of environmental decline, making the artwork itself partly a recovered artifact. Philosophical Statement The Artist in this artwork imagines a world where human skylines lie silent beneath the sea—monuments to a civilisation that ignored the warnings. In this submerged metropolis, only the ancient “fishbellies”, symbolic of Earth’s earliest animals, continue to glide through the ruins. They were here before us, and, if we fail to protect our oceans, they may outlive us as well. The artwork reflects on the cyclical nature of life: the fragility of human progress versus the resilience of the natural world. It questions our relationship with pollution, consumption, and climate inaction by embedding real ocean waste directly into the canvas. Nothing here is fictional—the decay is material, present, and real. The piece calls for humility, awareness, and responsibility toward Mother Nature and the waters that sustain life.

Artwork Details

Medium: Mixed Media

Genre: Expressionism