Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee is a marine conservation artist whose practice is focused on interdisciplinary work spanning monumental installations in public art and a fine art studio practice in oil paintings, lenticular works, and sculpture.
Mumbai’s coastline is where Folmsbee first grew up looking at the ocean. The ocean gave her solace at times when she felt lost, as she felt very connected to nature in water. Now based in Houston, Texas, it was her love for diving that led her to the world of marine art.
Her practice is heavily research-based, and it has been a gift to basically give a voice to science and the ocean through the visual language she has created in my work. Her voice is truly about capturing and showcasing that sublime in our one ocean. “I bring the sublimity of our oceans to all. That is who I am as an artist. I have seen how that has affected communities and inspired people to care and do more for our planet. We have lost significant areas of Mumbai’s intertidal habitat to reclamation and coastal development over the years. I have gone and visited the coast, looked, and taken photographs, seeing the green mussels of Mumbai. They’re still there, along with the oysters of the Koliwada. Not to mention the zoanthids in Malabar Hill. We still have it. There is hope. We must protect what we have and allow them to thrive,” she says.
As a marine conservation artist, she has actively created work that has brought about change. She has seen it function towards raising conservation awareness and aiding specific species. “I do believe that there’s so much more that we can do, and every artist is different. I choose to bring the sublimity and beauty of these hidden species into the world, and that’s what our oceans do. They bring happiness. They’re sublime. They’re beautiful. This positive messaging inspires a sense of care and a need to do more for our waters,” she adds.
The work that she created for Super Corals was based on the Great Barrier Reef. She has created art for the Texas marine sanctuaries. She has also created work that has focused on overfishing in the Red Sea in Egypt and Greece and art for waters in Mumbai, the Coral Triangle, and so much more. In 2012, she started working with the Galveston Bay Foundation. “That was one of the first times my artwork became directly connected to marine conservation and the work that was happening around me. In 2018, another very important moment was meeting Dr. Adrienne Correa and beginning to work with the Correa Lab at Rice University. I created the logo for her lab and began creating artwork connected directly to the science. That collaboration continued, and my paintings were incorporated into scientific research graphics, including work connected to coral research published in 2020. In 2021, I was also credited in a peer-reviewed Animal Microbiome paper for designing and creating a painting for the paper. That relationship showed me how art and science could work together and that my work could have a place within scientific research and communication,” she reminisces.
After that, she served on NOAA’s Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, and the work became more about advocacy. “Emma Hickerson, who was the research coordinator at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary and now lives in Australia, is someone I am still in touch with today. Emma is a mentor to me. She has really pushed me to think about how I can use my work to make a difference. Dr. Rachel Graham, who I met through her work in Panama and Belize, told me never to lose hope. Her organization, MarAlliance, tags and monitors sharks and other pelagics around Half Moon Caye in Belize, a place I have loved to dive and where I have noticed the difference in the reef over the span of eight years. The sharks are still as magnificent as I remembered. Her recent visit to my studio in Houston has stayed with me. Her encouragement of my work is truly special. I have so much admiration for these leaders in science, and I am incredibly grateful to them,” she adds.
Following her passion for what she feels connected to has taken her down this path. “I have seen how science and art can work together through creations like the Aquarius Art Tunnel, my Super Coral series, works from my Locket Series for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, works about oysters for the Coastal Preservation and Restoration of Texas, and working directly with organizations like the Galveston Bay Foundation,” she says. The secret for her is hope. “I feel like an artist can never lose hope if they want to create change. That is our job. My network in the science realm has been built over almost two decades. It has been a gift. These scientists have taught me, challenged me, mentored me, and made me think deeply about what my work can do in the world. I have enormous admiration for them, and I am grateful that art has given me a way to be part of these conversations,” she concludes.
