'Scavenger of the sea' makes a splash with debris artwork

Creating waves

"The Earth's ocean is a whole, connecting different regions, so the protection of marine ecology also requires people from different countries and regions to work together," Fu said.

He also regularly shares photos and his understanding of floating objects on social media platforms, raising people's attention of marine protection. One of his hottest posts on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu has received over 77,000 likes.

Fu's influence extends beyond the art world. Yang Jian, a postgraduate student at Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Processing Co., LTD, who lives in Beijing, sent a message to Fu on Xiaohongshu, hoping Fu could provide different types of marine debris for his study on recycling waste plastics. Fu voluntarily provided marine waste samples to Yang, which contributed to Yang's plastic waste identification model, a key part of the research.

"The results have recently been summarized in a paper that is being submitted to an international journal. I specifically thanked Fu in the acknowledgements section," Yang said.

Fu specially created a cartoon image and characterization of a spotted seal, named "Baobao" (Bao is the pronunciation of the Chinese word for seal), when the species became a national first-class protected animal in China in 2021. Every year from February to May, spotted seals rest in Changdao on their migratory journey, they are the only species of pinniped that breeds in Chinese waters.

With the support of the local authorities, Baobao's became the tourism ambassador of Changdao and has appeared in various public programs.

Baobao caught the attention of Zhou Wei, the Oceans Project Manager from the Beijing office of Greenpeace East Asia, which led her to seek cooperation with Fu on raising public awareness on marine protection.

"Fu's artwork combines the actual collection of ocean floating objects with his unique thinking, forming a power that can hugely inspire people to think about and care for the protection of the oceans." This is how Zhou felt after seeing Fu's work for the first time, and after observing the audience's reaction while it was on display.