In an effort to make the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument more tangible to the local community, FOMT facilitated the creation of a portable and roaming photo exhibit composed of stills taken from video footage captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Okeanos Explorer expedition research voyage in 2016; the 32 photos were chosen from a wide array of possibilities by followers of the FOMT Facebook page.Â
Once obtained, the photos were mounted on a twirling stem, allowing viewers to enjoy the images on one side and read descriptions of the images on the other. The descriptions are in four languages: English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Seafix Inc and Kautz Glass were instrumental in producing the exhibit’s portability and framing; the framing structure is unique in that it requires no tools to assemble and can be broken down into a highly portable form that fits in a standard SUV. These photos of the research trip findings in the Mariana Trench have been displayed in hotels across Saipan and at the Underwater World Guam.Â
Partners: MVA, HANMI, The Pew Charitable Trusts, NOAA, Underwater World Guam, Seafix Inc, and Kautz Glass