Around the world, many shells are sadly harvested unethically. Sea shells contain living creatures such as clams, oysters and scallops, which are pulled from their natural habitat and killed for shell sales. Therefore, the shells I use in my art are vintage; they have been handed down to me by my grandparents, or purchased second hand. Using second hand shells avoids any further support of taking live sea creatures from their habitats. Whilst this means I am unable to know how these shells were originally obtained, it means I am repurposing these beautiful pieces of nature whilst raising awareness through my art on how to help and protect our oceans and all its inhabitants.