AND a labyrinth of land and water, of uninhabited islets and small canals which, when crossing the Venetian lagoon north of Venice by boat, the gaze perceives as overlapping. On the low strips of emerged land covered with vegetation (the salt marshes) white swans, egrets, herring gulls, gray herons, oystercatchers, mallards and pink flamingos nest undisturbed, flying in formation over the sky of the Serenissima in spring. A landscape of muted colors that changes with the tides, with the green surfaces of the salt marshes emerging and, at times, quickly disappearing. A unique humid environment, the largest in Europe, but extremely fragile. Protect it from erosion caused by wave motion (both natural and caused by boat traffic) has become the mission of Allison Zurfluh, 55, a painter, president and co-founder of The Barena Association.
Women and the environment. Allison Zurfluh: «The Venetian Lagoon must breathe»
«In the last hundred years in the Lagoon we have lost 70 percent of the salt marshes, those remaining must be protected. With our association we monitor the northern lagoon, developing projects for the repopulation of endemic flora and fauna. Furthermore, we remove large waste from protected wetlands, to give nature space and let it breathe» says the artist.
In love with this stretch of sea, Allison lives between Switzerland and the island of Buranoimplementing the association’s projects thanks to the collaboration and experience of local fishermen.
Like Domenico Rossi, one of the last to capture the delicacies moéche (crabs that lose their shells during the moulting phase), almost disappeared due to the invasion of blue crabs, voracious predators.
Allison Zurfluh in the Venetian Lagoon, in an old fishermen’s house to be cleaned up. Photo by Alessandro Tagliapietra.
«Over the years, going out fishing with buranelli I learned a lot. And I understood the importance of salt marshes in the ecosystem: they improve water circulation, filter nutrients and pollutants, attenuate the energy of storm surges and offer habitats for many birds and fish. Salt marshes also play a crucial role in carbon sequestration: they absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and store it in their soils. The idea of founding The Barena Association? It was born observing this landscape, the changes in light, the succession of tides and seasons. AND the critical issues of the Lagoon: the erosion of the salt marshes is faster every year».
A glimpse of the northern lagoon of Venice. Photo by Allison Zurfluh.
What happens when sea level rises in the Venetian Lagoon
According to research conducted by the Institute of Geosciences and Georesources of the National Research Council of Padua (Cnr-Igg) by 2050 the salt marshes, located between 25 and 50 centimeters above sea level, will be reduced by 16 square kilometres, while those measuring between 0 and 25 centimeters in height will be reduced by 18 square kilometers. This loss will have a negative impact on the benefits that the lagoon environment provides.
The study, published in the journal Science of The Total Environmenthe highlighted the vulnerability of the Venice Lagoon to sea level rise. «Halophytic plants grow on the salt marshes, plants that live in brackish environments and resist temporary immersion, such as glasswort used by chefs. But if sea levels rise more rapidly the ability of the soil to accumulate sediments retained by plants, the flora succumbs. And the salt marsh disappears» explains Allison.
The low edge of a salt marsh in the northern lagoon of Venice and the spontaneous vegetation. Photo by Allison Zurfluh.
The eco barriers that protect the islets
The Barena Association’s initiatives follow the guidelines of the European Life Vimine project: authorized naturalistic engineering interventions with low environmental impact, which use biodegradable material. «Our goal is to install bundles of recycled wood and branches along the edges of the salt marshes, to create an anti-erosion barrier» continues Allison Zurfluh.
«The fagots are sustainable and less invasive than the burgae: containers filled with stones placed to protect the largest and busiest canals. We also deal with removal of waste from the islands, harmful to the ecosystem. In the Tralera area, in the Blue Zone of the northern lagoon (a protected area of particular naturalistic value, established by the Municipality of Venice and the Water Authority, ed.) we have eliminated plastic, nets, engines, generators, gas cylinders and old household appliances”.
Allison Zurfluh in the northern lagoon of Venice during a waste cleaning operation from the salt marshes. Photo by Alessandro Tagliapietra.
Objective: to ensure work for the fishermen of Burano
Another important aspect: «With the funds for the “SOS Barena” project, raised thanks to our Venetian sponsors and the charity events we organise, the fishermen who take care of the installation and maintenance of the fagots are paidan operation that requires knowledge of the area. The commitment is to give support to the fishermen of Burano who have lost their jobs due to the decline of fishing in the lagoon. As an association we hope to grow further in order to be able to ensure income for fishermen, happy to be able to return to work here. They were so passionate that they followed my artistic activity with interest and came to the inauguration of the latest exhibition.”
A painting by Allison Zurfluh whose subject is the Venetian Lagoon during the red flowering of glasswort.
The art of “stealing” colors from nature
To paint his canvases Allison pilots a small motor boat and reaches the private island of Santa Cristina, where his atelier is located immersed in tranquility. Sometimes he paints from the boat, as Claude Monet did, and often photographs the canals, the grey-green waterways that he crosses slowly, so as not to create waves.
In his oil paintings on jute canvas, the lagoon landscape is interpreted with large, material stripes of overlapping colour. Looking at Allison’s abstract works on the walls and on the easel in his studio feels like sailing between salt marshes and canals, because using the same shades as the Lagoon the painter captures its atmosphere, its essence.
For her, buranella by choice, art and ecological activism seem to have become one and the same thing. He feels that the Lagoon, his source of inspiration, is in danger. And he underlines once again: «We need to raise awareness among everyone, there is a lot to do to protect the salt marshes from erosion and wildlife from depopulation, restoring the balance of the threatened ecosystem and the growth of the local community».