Under the Sea - 2026
Welcome to the third annual Under the Sea virtual exhibition, presented by Moku Art Studio. We are honored to once again showcase a powerful collection of artworks that celebrate the beauty, mystery, and urgency of our ocean’s story. Building on the success of our inaugural exhibition, this year’s Under the Sea deepens its commitment to both artistic excellence and ocean advocacy.
This exhibition continues to serve as a platform where art and purpose converge, offering not only visual inspiration, but also a rallying cry for ocean conservation, sustainability, and education. Through the eyes of gifted artists from around the world, we are invited to dive beneath the surface and reflect on what it means to protect and reconnect with our ocean planet.
Each selected piece was carefully chosen by our panel of distinguished judges for its ability to excel in three key areas in support of the UN Ocean Decade:
Connecting people and the ocean
A call to action
Restoring the viewer’s relationship with the ocean
These criteria mirror our growing belief that art has the power to influence hearts, inform minds, and inspire meaningful action in support of the UN Ocean Decade and Ocean Decade Challenge 10.
Under the Sea is not just an exhibition, it’s a growing platform for dialogue, creativity, and collective action in support of our oceans. This year, we continue to bring together artists, scientists, activists, and ocean lovers to cultivate a creative community devoted to one of Earth’s most vital and threatened ecosystems. As this platform evolves, so does our ambition: to spark dialogue, build bridges, and energize a global audience around the shared mission of ocean stewardship.
Thank you for diving in with us once more. We are thrilled to have you on this continued journey beneath the waves.
Under the Sea has been approved as an endorsed activity by UNESCO’s UN Ocean Decade. Being an endorsed activity offers greater visibility and the chance to contribute to a global effort for a healthy, sustainable ocean through impactful collaboration.
Under the Sea Virtual Exhibition
The format
We recommend viewing the map on a desktop. If you would like to see the map bigger, just click on the top right square. Every artist is placed on the map with a colored marker. When you click on the marker, you will see a window to the left of your screen with the name of the artist, their piece, the artist’s statement about their work, and a link to their website. Please click on the images so you can see the full image or video. If the artist has several pieces in the exhibition, you can scroll through them using the arrows.
To see all the artists, click on the Map Legend, which is the button on the top left with a little arrow
Why a map?
We made a deliberate choice to present the participating artists within a map format. This decision was motivated by our desire to visually emphasize the global significance of ocean conservation and protection, illustrating how these critical issues resonate across borders and affect us all. By mapping out the diverse locations of the artists, we aim to showcase the widespread engagement with this cause, demonstrating how creatives from various corners of the world are actively addressing and bringing attention to the urgent challenges facing our oceans. Through this spatial representation, we hope to underscore the interconnectedness of our planet and the collective efforts underway to safeguard our marine ecosystems.
2026 Category Winners and Judges’ personal choices
Voting is underway. Our 2026 panel of judges is currently reviewing submissions. Category winners and judges' personal choices will be announced here soon, stay tuned!
In addition to selecting the top three artworks that exemplify visualizing science compellingly, issuing a call to action that inspires, and changing the viewer’s relationship with the ocean, the judges also handpicked their favorite piece. This selection process not only highlights the overarching criteria for evaluating the submissions but also acknowledges the subjective resonance that certain artworks may have with individual judges.
2026 Panel of Judges
Under the Sea 2026 brings together an extraordinary panel of judges, marine biologists, artists, writers, and ocean advocates. Each bringing a unique lens to the work of evaluating art in service of the ocean. We are lucky that Dr. Helen Scales, Dr. Thomas Linley and Dr. Sarah McAnulty have been past of this panel sine the first edition of the exhibition.
Dr Helen Scales is a marine biologist, writer and broadcaster. She writes about the ocean’s living wonders for readers of all ages. Her books have been adapted for stage and screen, and translated into 17 languages. They include the Guardian bestseller Spirals in Time and What the Wild Sea Can Be which was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction and the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing and longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. Her children’s books include the global bestseller What a Shell Can Tell and Scientists in the Wild, Antarctica which was shortlisted for the Children’s Travel Book of the Year and The Week Junior Children’s STEM Book of the Year. She writes regularly for the Guardian and National Geographic and teaches at Cambridge University. Helen divides her time between Cambridge, England, and the wild Atlantic coast of France.
Find: @drhelenscales and Blue Sky
Sarah McAnulty is a squid biologist and street artist working to connect people with wildlife through art. She collaborates with neighborhood groups and local artists to create murals on philly biodiversity, and hosts events that bring science and art together to encourage environmental action. Her "Squid facts" sticker and wheatpaste project has reached over 180,000 people with facts about squid and cuttlefish since 2018.
Find: Skype a Scientist, @sarahmackattack,
David Buckland is an artist, film-maker, writer and curator. His solo exhibitions include the Musee National d’Art Modern, Paris 1980; the Sander Gallery, New York 1984; The Photographers’ Gallery London in 1987; Espace Photographique de la Ville de Paris, 1987; the Minneapolis Institute of Art 1989; the Museum of Contemporary Photography 1990; Zwemmer Gallery, London, 1994; The National Portrait Gallery, London 1999. His work is included in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, the Michael Wilson Collection, London and the Metropolitan Museum of New York.
In 2001, Buckland created and now directs the international Cape Farewell project. Bringing artists, visionaries, scientists and educators together, Cape Farewell continues to build an international collective
awareness and the cultural response to climate disruption. Over 300 artists have created operas, films, artworks, pop music and novels which address the climate challenge and through the process of making art, vision a sustainable and exciting cultural future. The Archive of Cape Farewell is being taken by the Nevada Museum of Art, USA.
Find him: https://www.capefarewell.com
Rohan Chakravarty is a cartoonist, illustrator and the creator of Green Humour, a series of cartoons, comics and illustrations on wildlife and nature conservation. Cartoons from Green Humour appear periodically in newspaper columns, magazines and journals, and have been used for several projects and campaigns on wildlife awareness and climate change. Rohan is also the author of nine books and has won awards from UNDP, Sanctuary Asia, WWF International, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Bangalore Literature Festival for his work. He is notorious for rolling up into a ball like a pangolin to avoid answering the phone or meeting people.
Find him: https://www.greenhumour.com/
Dr Thomas Linley is a Curator of Fishes at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, moving after falling in love with New Zealand and the museum collection during his research into the Kermadec Trench.
Thom specialises in deep-sea demersal (living close to the bottom) fishes from 4000 m depth and deeper. He is particularly interested in their ecology and distribution; how they live down there, and why they are found in some places and not others. He has an interest in developing the technology that allows deep-sea studies and exploring ways to make it smarter and less costly. His desk is often covered in cables and the guts of electronics.
Thom likes to explore different ways of communicating science to reach as many people as possible. He frequently gives public talks to offer a fun and accurate portrayal of the deep sea.
Find him on Instagram @thom.linley & Deep-Sea Podcast
Beatriz Chachamovits is an environmental artist and educator from São Paulo, Brazil, living and working in Miami, Florida. Her practice centers on marine ecosystems, explored through ceramic sculpture, drawing, and installation that merge natural history with speculative mythology and ecological inquiry. Selected solo and group exhibitions have been presented at Faena Art Project Room, Miami (2022); the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (2023); the Miami Design District (2024); the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2018); the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Florida (2022); and The Baker Museum, Naples, Florida (2025). Chachamovits has received residency fellowships at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts, Penland School of Craft, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, among others. She is a recipient of Oolite Arts’ Ellies Creator Award (2023), was commissioned by the City of Miami Beach for the Elevate Española public art project (2023), and is currently a resident artist at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami.
Find her: www.beatrizchachamovits.com