Avant-garde artist Anohni collaborates with scientists to mourn the Great Barrier Reef

The musical eulogy featured underwater footage documenting recent impacts of coral bleaching at Lizard Island, located in the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef, as a backdrop to a chorus of interviews spliced between songs. Eight scientists spoke with the quiet authority of people who have watched something they love slowly die.

This past summer, the Great Barrier Reef suffered its sixth mass coral bleaching event since 2016. Before arriving in Sydney, Anohni went to Lizard Island to witness firsthand the aftermath.

Just as autumn leaves change colour before they fall or a dying star glows more brightly before it goes dark, corals looks more beautifully vibrant when in distress caused by bleaching.

“It’s very emotional to see it. It looks like a war zone. There are still pockets of idyllic beauty out there. … I don’t think hope is where my value lies. My value lies in presence and in materiality and creativity. Those are the things that compel me,” said Anonhi.

Professor Harrison, who leads the coral larval restoration team at Southern Cross University, is co-credited with the 1981 international scientific discovery of how multiple coral species reproduce synchronously each year in a phenomenon known as mass coral spawning,

“I’ve witnessed the devastating impacts of mass coral bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs since the early 1980s, and the frequency and severity of mass bleaching is increasing in recent years, as predicted by climate change models,” said Professor Harrison.

“Being interviewed by Anohni for her ‘Mourning the Great Barrier Reef’ concerts was important to highlight these threats to larger audiences, so it was important to speak about my experiences and the increasing impacts on the GBR and other reefs from human activities.”

“In recent years what I've learned to do is to accept the fact that I can't change a lot of way in which different people think, but I can still try my hardest during my lifetime to communicate the importance of science, the joy of discovering things about our natural world, and my concerns about the way in which humans are impacting the planet to the point where we threaten the very existence of some of these ecosystems. Part of that journey has been through learning to cope with ecological grief and transforming that grief into energy that drives me forward and makes me even more passionate about using my remaining, hopefully, years on our beautiful planet, to try and inspire other people to continue ... sorry it's really difficult to talk about that grief ... as with all grief but it's real!”

Distinguished Professor Peter Harrison, excerpt from ‘Mourning the Great Barrier Reef’

Other scientists included Dr Charlie Veron, regarded as ‘the godfather of corals’; Dr Anya Salih, an expert on reef fluorescence; Professor Tony Larkum; filmmaker David Hannan; and Dr Lyle Vail who recently retired as co-director of the Lizard Island Research Station after 34 years.

Dr Anya Salih who is head scientist of Fluoresci Research and Adjunct Research Fellow at UTS was the scientific producer for ‘Mourning the Great Barrier Reef’.

“Through music, science and film, the performance created space to mourn this loss while strengthening public concern and resolve,” said Dr Salih.

“It invited audiences to reckon emotionally and intellectually with coral reef collapse. In this context, mourning is not only an expression of sadness or loss, it is also an act of care, connection and responsibility.”

Mourning is an act of love and it's an act of care. Find the place in nature that you love. Go to it and think of it as your kin that you need to protect.

Dr Anya Salih, excerpt from ‘Mourning the Great Barrier Reef’