Overflow

The Legend of Atlantis was always fascinating to me. That a utopian society had once existed, perhaps even still exists, underwater, was a thought I loved to fantasize about as a child. Part of me though, knew that the reason I loved it so much was because I knew Atlantis was probably just a fantasy. Science and logic dictate that a living city cannot exist underwater, after all.

That was until I read that sea levels could rise as much as 19 inches by 2050. Did you know that a rise of even a foot can bring chronic and disruptive flooding to make cities uninhabitable? Put many, many cities in the world underwater? In the United States, cities from Miami to Atlantic City, Key West to Los Angeles, San Diego to Honolulu, are candidates to become the next Atlantis in just a few centuries. Even Manhattan, where I had once lived, could soon see the day where the tip of the Empire State Building is all that is left. This was my inspiration for "Overflow." I envisioned our world as the ocean in a cup, with our Earth floating above it. When the cup of ocean overflows, human civilization will be drowned; eaten up by the insatiable hunger of the ocean as revenge on us for our abuse. Right now, we are at the turning point. The cohesive surface tension of the cup is keeping the Earth afloat; but once it topples...that is the message I would like to convey.

Caroline Zhu is a high school junior at Syosset High School. Art has always been one thing in life she knows she truly loves doing, and she's specifically been heavily invested into the visual arts for 13 years. As an artist, her inspiration comes from looking for unique perspectives on life, social justice, and the interactions of the world around her. Translating compositions from her mind to an artistic medium is a method of communication for her, thus, she hopes you enjoy her following pieces.