Keeping Turks & Caicos “Beautiful By Nature” through storytelling and art.

By Teresa Tomassoni, Amy Avenant and Katharine Hart

Art and storytelling are powerful tools our ancestors have used from the beginning of time to preserve cultural heritage, pass on generations of wisdom about nature and advocate for her protection. They are tools that help us humans transcend cultural, economic and political barriers and come together to remember our shared relationship with nature and imagine our collective future. 

A group of eco-journalism camp participants painted this collaborative work and integrated recycled materials they collected during a beach cleanup.

Recognizing the power of these tools, the Department of Environment & Coastal Resources (DECR) recently partnered with Grand Turk-based marine biologist Katharine Hart and a group called Visions4Nature, founded by journalist Teresa Tomassoni and artist Hernan Jurado Quintero, to launch the Turks & Caicos Islands’ first art and storytelling for conservation project. With the support of Andaz Turks & Caicos, which sponsored the project, the group facilitated a series of activities this summer including a week-long eco-journalism bootcamp for youth held at the Edward Gartland Youth Centre. Artist Hernan Jurado Quintero produced a large-scale mural titled “Octopus Garden” which pays tribute to the island’s coral reefs and Indigenous Lucayan and Taino ancestors. The mural was unveiled this September and recognized by TCI Minister of Tourism Honourable Josephine Connolly during the Bight Park Beach Day.

Fostering the next generation of environmental journalists and advocates

Fifteen students from Providenciales and North Caicos, as well as other island nations including Haiti, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, participated in the week-long eco-journalism camp, some as young as eleven years old. On the first day, Teresa Tomassoni explained, “To be a journalist, you have to be curious, open minded, honest and resilient.” This week, she told the group, they would learn how to interview scientists, advocates, and local business owners. They would learn how to conduct research on coral disease, climate change, and sea turtle biology. They would observe first-hand how rising global temperatures are affecting the coral reefs which surround the Turks & Caicos Islands by snorkeling—maybe for the first time in their lives. They would cruise through the Princess Alexandra National Park with DECR’s beach patrol officers and find out what it’s like to manage a marine protected area. And finally, they would write factual stories about their experiences to share with the public.

It was a hefty load for one week, but doable. But first, they would have to interview each other about their personal relationship with the natural environment. It was important to get to know one another, Teresa said. They would be colleagues this week, and perhaps in the future. 

Environmental journalist Teresa Tomassoni encourages student journalists to take notes on the sea turtle tagging process led by marine biologist Katharine Hart and Amy Avenant from the DECR.

Over the next few days, the students spent little time in the classroom. They trekked along the rocky flats lining Smith’s Reef under the blazing sun, armed with spiral notebooks and pens until they spotted marine biologist and sea turtle expert Katharine Hart swimming towards shore on her back holding a flapping green sea turtle against her chest. Katharine was granted explicit permission from the DECR to catch and tag a turtle, she told the group. As she set the turtle down on the beach, she explained how tagging sea turtles was a key conservation strategy. It helps scientists track sea turtle populations and their distributions and better understand the species’ use of habitat including Turks & Caicos’ lush seagrass beds just offshore. 

With each day, the students learned how to juggle asking questions, making eye contact, taking in their surroundings, and writing vigorous detailed notes. “Sometimes it is just really hard to take notes and listen to people. It got easier as I interviewed more people and learned to write the important key points. I felt like an actual journalist,” wrote an eleven-year-old participant in her final reflection of the camp. 

Some of the students became fascinated with animals they had thought little of previously: corals. While visiting the Turks & Caicos Reef Fund lab at South Bank Marina, they heard from the organizations’ executive director, Alizee Zimmerman, about the plight these animals are facing as a mysterious disease called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease threatens their survival. To save some of the most vulnerable species, Zimmerman explained, the lab housed dozens of coral colonies in open water tanks. Someday, she told the group, these corals would be used to breed climate and disease resilient corals to be put back in the ocean to help rebuild the reefs of the future. “When I realize that a dangerous and frightening disease is ravaging these beautiful corals in our oceans, I feel a deep sadness in my chest and an urge to inform and spread awareness of this silent but deadly disease,” wrote a fifteen-year-old participant.

But the group was not only inspired to write about their ocean reporting adventures. Some of the reporters were particularly excited by their tour of Sunshine Nursery with Marius Giese who demonstrated how he built his own solar power batteries and how he is propagating breadfruit. “Giese brings us over to a small greenhouse, and reveals a new process in which he is undertaking with his plants called ‘air layering’. Air layering is a method of propagation that induces roots to form on a plant stem while it is still attached to the parent plant. As an example, he shows us a breadfruit in the process of air layering. Part of the plant is wounded, leaving the bare middle of the stem. Then, damp soil is packed onto the wounded area and wrapped in foil, tricking the plant into thinking that the bare wound is the ground. Roots will eventually form and the upper half of the plant will be cut to grow into its own tree. This procedure fascinates me: the world of gardening truly has no limits to its creativity and imagination!” wrote another fifteen-year-old participant. 

For some of the young reporters, the thrill of a speed boat ride with DECR’s beach patrol officers was the highlight of their week, topped off by seeing endemic iguanas roam freely on Little Water Cay. 

By the end of the week, every young journalist wrote at least one article based on their first hand observations, research, and diligent fact checking. “Everything you say in journalism has to be backed up by evidence. It has to be truthful, and you have to be honest to your readers. To find all the information possible you need to dig, take notes, edit, and put things over in a way that is exciting and understandable for the public,” wrote one twelve-year-old participant in her final reflection on camp. 

Witnessing these young reporters grow in their confidence to speak with strangers, engage in new experiences and write about environmental issues was a great privilege. Collectively, we are beginning to discuss how we can continue this initiative and expand to other islands. Inspiring the next generation to engage with conservation and sustainability by fostering environmental stewardship through novel programs like this eco-journalism bootcamp is critical to TCI’s future.

“Octopus Garden”: A mural to remember

This is the “Octopus Garden” mural at The Bight Park painted by artist Hernan Jurado Quintero.

Through art, Hernan Jurado Quintero aims to inspire each of us to celebrate, explore, and protect the beautifully diverse natural ecosystems that we are a part of. This piece in particular is a tribute to Turks & Caicos’ coral reefs and the hundreds of interconnected species which depend on them for food and habitat. It is also a tribute to those who came before us, including the Indigenous Taino and Lucayan people, who carved their art into rocks and other objects throughout the Caribbean. Look closely at the mural to spot painted images of some of their symbols and artifacts. May they serve as a reminder for all of us to reflect on the marks and memories we would like to leave behind on our Islands for future generations.  

“This breathtaking mural is a unique way to engage with people from all walks of life and inspire them to think about the ecosystems that are thriving on the other side of the sand dunes. Watching community members of all ages and backgrounds connect with this painting shows the power of art to bring people together and look at conservation from a different perspective,” said Katharine Hart, founder of The Marine Environmental Institute of the Turks & Caicos Islands.