As Far As the Eyes Can See

Cruet’s use of aerial and low-angle views reflect a relationship between the local and the global: the sky seen from the ground in Puerto Rico, the oceans seen from far above—a meeting point between scientific technology and his artistic use of projectors, screens, and software. The images nestle on top of one another in layers like too many windows opened on your computer, or the climate studies that continue to pile up. His compositions, created from layers of aerial thermal images of the ocean, juxtapose warm and cold colors that signify changes in ocean temperatures. Each image challenges the idea of divided oceans, conceptualizing them instead as a single body of water threatened by the catastrophic effects of climate change—pollution, global warming, extreme weather events, widespread erosion, population displacement, and ultimately, species extinction. Some elements are abstract, while others are easily recognizable: silhouettes of mangroves, backlit palm trees, sand, sea, someone looking up at the sky at sunset.

The prints incorporate Cruet’s imagery with infrared technology and satellite imaging, anchoring his aesthetic in empirically derived data. They disrupt traditional visualizations of the ocean, displacing blue for bright reds, oranges, and yellows to reference the increases in water temperature documented by researchers and demonstrated through scientific data—an alarming development that transcends geographical and political borders. For instance, Pacific Detail (2022) depicts global sea surface temperatures taken on August 27, 2003 by Japan National Space Development Agency’s (NASDA) AMSR-E instrument aboard NASA’s Aqua spacecraft. The original image depicts in false colors the surface water temperatures, which range from -2°C (28°F) in the darkest sections to 35°C (95°F) in the brightest yellow-white regions. Sea ice is depicted in white, while land is depicted in dark gray. Intermingling scientific imaging techniques with graphic design and other artistic sleights of hand, Cruet invites us to confront the emergency we have ignored and the catastrophes our denial has catalyzed, presenting us with a Caribbean that is not localized nor isolated, but part of an ecological crisis that is expansive, interconnected, and global.

— JG