Vincent chose his medium with care. Longer ago, fish hooks symbolized our intimate connection with nature with fish hooks found as far back as 42,000 years ago in East Timor. Today, to Vincent fish hooks symbolize the ravaging of the world’s oceans using long line fishhooks in unregulated international waters.

According to the artist’s website:

With his sculptures, Vincent explores the relationship between our identity as a human species and our place on this planet. The increasing number of endangered species suggests that we have become disconnected from nature and misguided about our responsibilities towards our natural environment. This neglect is none more evident than within the shark family. For more than 400 million years, sharks have determined the natural balance in the oceans as apex predators, dominating the water even before life on land flourished, and being a crucial part of the selection process for life of the future. Now these ancient, iconic fish are in danger of becoming extinct.

Vincent crafts these predators in their pure organic shape out of the very fishhooks that are threatening their existence, hoping to draw awareness to our place within and responsibility towards nature.

Take a look at some of the awe-inspiring sculptures that Vincent has wrought:

A hammerhead shark.

Top view of the hammerhead shark sculpture.

Side view.

An example of the mesh of hooks that Vincent creates.

For every 1000 hooks set at Cocos Island, 10-14 turtles are caught.

A sea turtle.

(via Project Aware)