Lizzy is a surfer and artist living in Peniche, west of Portugal. From the intimate connection with the ocean, the need to protect it has born.
Lizzy started to get interested in environmental activism, acting individually as a volunteer for Surfrider Foundation (since 2011). Beyond beach cleaning, Lizzy has been promoting workshops and volunteer activities of environmental education, to explore the potentialities of marine litter as raw material.
Professionally, Lizzy works as a fulltime illustrator, using illustrations dedicated to surf to convey ecological messages that speak about preserving water sources, nature, the sea and planet Earth.
However, in 2021 Lizzy felt the urge to work with her hands and to have a direct contact with the raw materials and textures, so she proposed herself a challenge: to create pieces out of trash and reused materials, helping to solve the problem of marine litter in a creative way, adding aesthetics and artistic value.
(R)HOPE is a coral reef created with ropes and wasted fishing cages collected on the beach. The main idea was to create a healthy reef vibrant with colors and life, starting from the root causes of its destruction - massive fishing practices.
Coral reefs take up more carbon dioxide than Earth’s forests, so it’s urgent to protect and replant coral reefs to balance Earth’s temperature and biosphere.
(R)HOPE is the hope for a more sustainable fishing practise in the future. A hope for protected sea waters and an invitation to transform trash into aesthetic pieces.
Exhibitions
2022 Keynote Speaker. IAC2022. Nausicaá. Bologne-Sur-Mer. France
2022 CARE. 8th of June - 8th July (Rove - Lisboa)
2022 Pristine Blue - 27th of June - 1st of July, Lisboa UN Side Event
2022 OCÉAN - L'exposition immersive (through participation in “Coeur battant”)
2022 The Mermaid´s song (WSL MEO PRO PORTUGAL, Peniche, Portugal)
2021 European Night of Researchers. Pavilion of Knowledge (Lisboa, Portugal)
2021 Portuguese Surf Film Fest (Culture House, Ericeira, Portugal)
Media exposure
2023 Long documentary ‘‘TEIA’’ de Sabrina D. Marques (by Maria & Mayer)
2021 Documentary “ Coeur battant”
2021 Documentary ‘‘Plastic Hike’’, do artista ‘‘the trash traveler’’
2021 TVI 24 (Portugal) - Serie “o mar é a nossa terra”
2021 HBO (Spain) - Zero waste chef, ep. 1
Prizes
2022 mARTE contest by Docapesca
2021 mARTE contest by Docapesca