MOTHER: the Balearic Sea photography contest that "has more power than a catastrophic campaign"

Almost six years ago, the Marilles Foundation recognized the importance of raising awareness about the conservation of the Balearic Sea through the visual arts and created MARE, an annual image and video competition whose main discipline is underwater digital photography, to inspire action for the Balearic Sea. The project coordinator, Amador Garcia, explains that art "has the power to stir consciences and touch hearts." He also believes that this positive initiative "has more impact than a catastrophic campaign that conveys a negative message." This year, MADRE celebrates its sixth edition with the MADRE25 Conference, "The Sea Moves Us," a space for meeting, inspiration, and action for the conservation of the Balearic Sea. This year, the project program has been expanded, and in addition to the awards ceremony taking place this Friday at 6:00 p.m. at the CaixaForum in Palma, other activities will be held throughout the weekend.

The first took place this Thursday at CineCiutat. An evening dedicated to the sea with the screening of the reels Winners of the first edition of MADRE Sea Reel and the Official Selection of the Ocean Film Festival World Tour. A nearly two-hour experience of cinema, adventure, and environmental awareness that celebrated the beauty of the ocean and the urgency of its conservation. This year, MADRE has added awards for the best reels from the Balearic Sea. "We see that social media has become a means of communication where anyone can be a potential reporter, and on the other hand, we want to reach the new generations who get their information and communicate through short, immediate videos. We're looking for another way to attract participation," Garcias points out. He celebrates that in the first edition alone there were more than 112 reels which have generated over 1.5 million views in total. Furthermore, this new feature is also included in the Ocean Film Festival World Tour – which has an agreement with Marilles – the major international festival of oceans, adventure, and extreme sports that originated twelve years ago in Australia and has since toured the world as part of its international World Tour.

The second activity takes place this Friday: the MADRE25 Awards Gala, with the participation of the finalists of the photography competition and of reelsThe winning images will be displayed, and the award-winning videos will be screened. The MADRE25 audiovisual competition for the conservation of the Balearic Sea will award €10,000 in prizes at its 6th edition. The winning images were selected from 1,321 photographs submitted by photographers from 17 different countries. This year's jury consisted of Ana Palacios, Merche Llobera, and Emma Cebrián.

Garcias celebrates that this year "65% of the images submitted to the competition have been donated to MADRE for conservation purposes, setting a new record and reinforcing the true purpose of the contest." He points out that last year this figure was between 30 and 40% and affirms that the competition "breaks records every year." The donated images are added to a database that already contains almost 3,000 photographs, which are then provided to conservation organizations with which Marilles has partnerships to raise awareness of the work being done in the Canary Islands. Thus, the initiative "doesn't stop at simply contemplating the beauty of the images, but rather uses them to showcase the work being done," emphasizes the MADRE coordinator.

Saturday morning at 10:00 AM, at Fotos Ruano Pro, there will be talks dedicated to marine photography and outreach, with experts such as Xavier Mas, marine biologist and photographer, who will share his experience in underwater macro photography, and Ana Palacios, visual journalist and documentary filmmaker specializing in the Canon Europe program.