Joanna Demarco

Sea urchins (rizzi) are remarkably resilient creatures. Yet in Malta, due to climate change, poaching and other environmental pressures, they are facing risk of extinction. 

Within the context of severe, global species extinction, Some Say They Don’t Die moves away from mainstream ecological and scientific narratives, instead exploring what the loss of a creature means on a personal, cultural, and metaphysical level. Through it, I seek to spark reflection on the often-overlooked value of a species through the ways it is intertwined in our everyday lives.  

Informed by memories and anecdotes shared by Maltese community members, the project uses photography to translate and sustain collective memory; the last place where the threatened sea urchin’s presence is ascertained. The camera is used to witness and record the reenacted anecdotes, the memory locations, which give testimony to the environmental decline, and other ways that the creature is represented in culture.  

Using salt from Maltese waters, a series of images are transformed into salt prints. Both the survival of the sea urchin and the formation of the print depend largely on a delicate balance of salinity and UV exposure, where minor shifts can yield significant change. The prints therefore make visual the critical need to continually strive for balance. The sequence portrays my mother’s hands reenacting how she would remove a sea urchin spine – a memory of care echoed by all respondents. 

Contemporary environmental philosophers Donna Haraway and Thom van Dooren argue that with species extinction, remembering is vital: for the possibility of resurgence, for accountability, for collective grieving, and for navigating a path forward. 

What do we lose when we lose a species?  

The answer varies depending on the creature and the culture it inhabits. This project offers one situated case study, purposefully engaging with the broad and global issues through a local lens. In this way, it advocates for the importance of relatability in storytelling within often overwhelming and ungraspable environmental crises.