Oil Chic

Oil Chic, 2016

This drawing was inspired by the knitted jumpers made by communities around New Zealand for the Kororā, Little Blue Penguins, following the catastrophic grounding of the container ship MV Rena near Tauranga in 2011.

This event was New Zealand’s worst ever maritime disaster. Although tens of thousands of marine lives were (and still are) affected, among the worst have been the little blue penguins. 

The idea of the jumpers was to keep the oil-soaked birds warm and prevent preening and ingestion of the toxic substances until they could be put through treatment. Although there are now more practical facilities for the same purpose, I was inspired in 2016 by the idea of the community coming together to help from afar.