The Giants of Point Loma is a life-size, site-specific installation of two unique camera-less photographs created specifically for Garibaldi's outdoor terrace columns. These works are immersive pieces with a physical connection to San Diego's waters, made with giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) collected in Point Loma's kelp forests.

Oriana free dives to collect sections of giant kelp to make her images. These pieces, even at 15 feet long, are just fractions of an individual stand of giant kelp, which can support dozens of fronds up to 100 feet in height from a single holdfast. To create each of these images, the kelp was laid out directly over paper Oriana prepared with light-sensitive cyanotype emulsion, exposed directly in sunlight and then washed in water to develop and fix each image. Once dried, the life-size cyanotype images (178" x 77") were digitized, printed, and wrapped around the terrace columns.

Our kelp forests, although diminished by the effects of anthropogenic climate change, serve vital role in the ecology of the nearshore ecosystem. Like forests on land, kelp forests create the structure that serves as habitat for hundreds of marine species, including the iconic California state fish and the restaurant namesake, the garibaldi.

Permanent site-specific installation commissioned by Garibaldi Restaurant at the InterContinental San Diego.