Carved and printed by Tom Kristensen in collaboration with Frank, Eleanor and Jo.
From left to right in four panels
United Fish Association by Frank Errington age 7
Birds being disturbed by planes.
The crabs have one claw larger than the other. The land crab is near toxic water.
The turtle has 13 sections on its shell, which all turtles have. 13 is a prime number. Some species are endangered. They get tangled in boat propellers and ghost nets
The thresher shark is attacking a giant squid. The squid has 8 legs and 2 arms – they use the arms for capturing prey, and the legs for moving around.
The thresher shark uses its long tail to paralyse prey by whacking.
The (female) angler fish has its mate (the male) latching on to its underside. The light is luring fish into its mouth .
The thermal vents are on the deepest part of the ocean floor in trenches. The bubbles are gases coming from the mantle.
The trilobite, fish skeleton and shells are fossils embedded in the rocks.
The diatoms (in panel 3) are like fossils of plankton.
The Story of the UFA (also part of other art works he has made with Jo and Tom – the torpedo marmorata and the invented torpedo curly nosed fish).
The United Fish Association is where the fish come together to overthrow the humans and get rid of all the pollution.
They’ve got different types of fish.
The Torpedo Marmorata is made to give electric shocks to submarines so they can get out of control and then they can capture the humans.
The spiral represents a vortex drawing all the fish into the opening because there is no door.
The fish have meetings in the U.f.A. to talk about new plans, about what they’re trying to do. The cage is where they put the humans they capture – like a human aquarium.
Polluted oceans by Eleanor Creighton age 14
The oceans are under threat due to human interference and pollution.
Plastic waste, oil slicks, removal of natural jellyfish predators, radioactive war submarines, rocket and aviation fuel, climate change, deforestation and warming oceans, acidification.
Tasmanian biodiversity crisis by Joanna Bradley age 45
The Tasmanian boobook, red handfish, spotted handfish, maugean skate, big belly seahorse are all threatened by human activity in estuaries and oceans surrounding the Australian island of Tasmania.
Giant wind farms in migratory flight path, warming waters and rising sea levels, introduced invasive species, urban and industrial run off, habitat loss, disappearance of giant kelp, intensive fish farming causing disease and antibiotic affected anaerobic estuaries, drag net fishing and illegal international trade are some of the threats faced by these five species.
Sinking world by Tom Krisensen age 62
Dystopian Ukiyo-e
A long lifetime of observing the coast and witnessing many changes, the observers look out over rising sea levels and tokenistic wind farms under a harsher looming sun beating down on them.
Below the surface in a steep ocean drop floats a head with a sword clenched in his mouth. A case of mistaken identity and violent revenge, with a hint of a reference to “those who’ve come across the seas” – a sentiment in the Australian National Anthem that we welcome others to live with us and share our home country.
The whirlpool, the U.f.A and lock up – designed by the youngest artist is to recruit fish species from across the generations to join the rebellion to save the oceans from the destructive humans. Playing their final trump card, the U.f.A. have detained a human in a cage without any due process. Possibly the current POTUS.
Figures on a beach from a fan-print by Hiroshige, the head of the accidental assassin Torii Matasuke from a kabuki actor print by Kuniyoshi. Political intrigues and allusions in ukiyo-e explored here:
https://woodblockprints.org/index.php/Detail/objects/829
Sinking world
Tom talking to Frank holding up the first completed print of Sinking world. June 2025