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Xavier Cortada elegantly created a series of sea stars crossing a bed of seagrass in this hand-carved ceramic mural. Reckless boating, pollution, and dredging imperil these seagrass beds. The wondrous allure of these ancient species motivates our efforts to protect their fragile habitats.

Xavier Cortada, “Sea Stars (detail),” 2′ x 16′, ceramic, 2014
A public art project at South Miami Plaza (Miami-Dade Housing Authority), Miami, FL

Artist’s Statement

I love this piece.

The sea stars, richly carved, look like jewels. Large and imposing, they pop out of their tiled mural panels, almost defying gravity.

This work, along with the other ceramic works located on this site are the most sculptural of my public housing projects to date:  The horseshoe crabs are really free standing sculptures—their base is attached to the wall. The octopus may be attached to a wall, but it’s three-dimensional, free-flowing. Gestural, muscular.  The smalltooth sawfish, the seahorses, the sea stars moving across the sea grass beds have great strength. All have thick relief, deep texture. They are almost alive.

I hope jointly they bring life to South Miami Plaza.

The site houses many elderly residents who hail from Cuba and the Caribbean basin.  The space between their childhood home and present day homes is filled with sea.  As they sit here in their golden years, reminiscing, I wanted to create art for them that portrays the creatures that live in that space, beneath the waves, across two shores.

I thought to create a string of sea stars that would metaphorically bridge that divide, charting a course between the two.  A magical path that would connect the past to the present.  The young with the old.  The near with the far.

This mural, lush with details and rich with texture illustrates sea stars shuffling across a remarkable terrain of sea grass. Their position creates a pattern, a “constellation of stars”.

In many ways, it is also a metaphor for the activity inside this community room. Hanging on either side of the entry way, this is the mural that residents will walk by numerous times a day, criss-crossing the room, carving their own paths and interactions as they make their way across the room.

Through their actions and interactions, they will bring life to this community room.

They will create a constellation, a connection with one another, with their unique stories and their shared history. They will tell a story, linking their present day homes with homes left behind, and link those homes with the ever more fragile habitats between the two.  They will intertwine their history with the universe, with the stars.

By creating an elegant mural of these sea stars shuffling across their habitat, I aim to remind people about the interconnectedness of things and the impact of even our daily routines.

At times we forget that our actions here on the mainland can affect the ecosystem in the bay, only a few miles away.

The runoff from farms and agricultural industries creates pollutants that contaminate the Bay, create algae blooms that kill the sea grass, and destroy the balance of nature.

Reckless boating in shallow areas, and careless pollution in our homes — chemicals down our drain and in our yards, harms these natural habitats, which take years to re-grow.

The sea stars, along with the other marine animals depicted in my art on site, contribute to the beauty of this building, which these residents call home. Through art, I invite them to find beauty in the bay.

Through the sea stars I link their home on the land to the sensitive spaces along the bayshore, to the depths of the ocean floor and to places farther still.