The North Atlantic water plied by Greta Thunberg in 2019 was around one degree Fahrenheit warmer and 30% more acidic than that which claimed Bas Jan Ader’s life in 1975. The Arctic sea ice has reached record lows, and soon the combination of cold melts and sun-warmed open ocean will negate the currents that carried Bas Jan’s boat to the tip of Ireland. Greta made it. Bas Jan didn’t. It had to be so.

Shevaun Wright is an artist and a lawyer. She earned her Masters of Law at the University of Melbourne and recently graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a Master of Fine Arts. Her interdisciplinary fluency, Australian aboriginal heritage, and feminist perspective combine to yield a singular, thought-provoking body of work that delves into language and power, patriarchal and white supremacist tyranny, and concepts around the social contract. Kimberli Meyer spoke with Wright, now based in Los Angeles, over Zoom in the summer of 2020 to discuss her artistic practice.