(Cruise has always been a bloody bad idea.)
As a continuum of the pop-culture in the Cayman Islands theme, “Vote No” is a Lichenstein-inspired comment on over-tourism. Cruises were the toxic poster-children of the COVID pandemic, yet Cayman’s government welcomed back the cruise industry in 2022 and have not ruled out a cruise-berthing port to increase our number of cruise visitors.
Data from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism showed that increased tourism in 2018 brought additional cruise passengers who each spent $57 on average, compared to the $4,044 spend per stay-over tourist. Local people receive little-to-no cut from the cruise ship spend, whilst bearing the burdens of congestion, overcrowding, and pollution cruise visitors bring.
Does the cruise visitor add value to the Cayman Islands? I suggest not, hence the title of this artwork that depicts a cruise ship in the George Town port of Grand Cayman. Red paint drips from just one spot, or is it blood? If it’s blood, what is it that’s dying? A few people may support a new George Town cruise port, on the basic belief in a basic equation that more people = more money. I encourage all to engage in a new conversation: If cruise passengers bring poor spend-per-head why let them come? And let’s not overlook the more obvious ecological argument: Cruise ships are a catastrophe for the environment, ( and that’s no overstatement.) They dump toxic waste into our waters, fill the planet with carbon dioxide, and kill marine wildlife. Cruise ships’ environmental impact is never ending, and they continue to get bigger. Unfortunately, everything that cruise ships come in contact with are likely to be harmed along their journey: the air, water, fragile habitats, coastal communities, and wildlife are all affected.
If to build a port is ecological suicide, and financial suicide, for the Cayman Islands in the long term, then why would we bleed for the cruise industry?
Title: Vote No
Date: September 2022
Medium: acrylic paint on canvas
