--- title: The Story Behind TIME's Oceans Issue Cover description: This special package examines the perils facing our seas, which hold the potential to make a difference in the fight against climate change. canonical: https://time.com/6190052/time-magazine-oceans-issue-cover/ author: D.W. Pine article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-06-23T11:00:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:54:09.327Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Story Behind TIME's Oceans Issue Cover og:description: A history of artistic collaboration og:url: https://time.com/6190052/time-magazine-oceans-issue-cover/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfbd42266ba0ab29/698a3315929fad41fcbf8be3/BTS_Plastic_22Wave22_2_Image_2-8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4032 og:image:height: 2268 og:image:alt: BTS_Plastic_Wave_#2_Image_2-8 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story Behind TIME's Oceans Issue Cover twitter:description: A history of artistic collaboration twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfbd42266ba0ab29/698a3315929fad41fcbf8be3/BTS_Plastic_22Wave22_2_Image_2-8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Story Behind TIME's Oceans Issue Cover > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent.  by [D.W. Pine](https://time.com/author/d-w-pine/)  ## D.W. Pine Pine is the Creative Director at TIME. Jun 23, 2022 11:00 AM UTC  The setup for photographing the sculpture Plastic Waves by Hugh Kretschmer The setup for photographing the sculpture Plastic Waves by Hugh Kretschmer Courtesy of Hugh Kretschmer  by [D.W. Pine](https://time.com/author/d-w-pine/)  ## D.W. Pine Pine is the Creative Director at TIME. Jun 23, 2022 11:00 AM UTC TIME has covered the planet and the dramatic damage done to it by human beings for more than a half century. With the rise of modern environmentalism came a double-width foldout on water use in 1965 and, two years later, a cover photograph of polluted air over L.A. Our most famous such cover literally covered the planet. The conceptual artist Christo wrapped a 16-in. globe in polyethylene and rope and drove more than 350 miles up and down New York State’s Long Island in search of the perfect combination of light, air, and sea to create the image TIME used to announce that 1988 would not have a Person of the Year, but rather a [Planet of the Year.](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19890102,00.html) I had the opportunity to meet with Christo in his New York City studio three years ago, along with TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal and executive editor Ben Goldberger. Sitting with him in a large, spare room adorned with diagrams showing his decades-in-the-making plan to wrap the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, I was struck by the boldness of Christo’s creativity and vision. He was thoughtful and confident, approaching creative challenges with a “Why not!” He died less than a year later—before the new collaborations we discussed could become reality, and months before his team completed his dream of wrapping the arch in recyclable polypropylene fabric.  Felsenthal, Goldberger, Christo, and Pine in the artist’s studio There’s no cover subject more important than climate change—and no single solution will cure the planet. Likewise, when approaching the visuals for a climate cover story, as TIME’s creative director I believe it’s important to present a variety of approaches, from large-scale sculptures to dramatic installations. For the April 26, 2021, cover, Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi spent two weeks creating an image that was part sculpture, part performance art. She constructed a 7.5-by-10-ft. world map out of 50,000 green-tipped matchsticks and then set the work on fire—no part of the globe escaped. And in 2019, Japanese sand sculptor Toshihiko Hosaka and his seven-person team created a 98-by-65-ft. TIME cover on the playground site of the former Iioka Junior High School in Iioka, Asahi, which closed after the East Japan Earthquake in 2011\. Their process involved raking sand for eight hours a day for seven days, followed by two days of fine adjustments. The piece was then photographed by drone.  Photograph and sculpture by Hugh Kretschmer [**_Buy a print of The Oceans Issue here_**](https://timecoverstore.com/featured/the-oceans-issue-photograph-and-sculpture-by-hugh-kretschmer.html) This week, we return to the ocean with a special package of stories examining the peril facing our seas—which also hold the potential to make a difference in the fight against a warming atmosphere. Our cover features another sculpture that reimagines the combination of light, air, and sea. California photographer Hugh Kretschmer spent four weeks constructing a 5-ft.-wide wave sculpture made of recycled plastic garbage bags. “I share a special kinship with the ocean—it is one of a handful of places I go to regroup, reset, refresh, and replenish,” says Kretschmer, who drew inspiration from Robert Longo’s charcoal drawing from his _Epic Wave_ series. “Blue is also the color of creativity, and many ideas of mine are born while walking the shores.”  Courtesy of Hugh Kretschmer He built _Plastic Waves_ using pillow batting, aluminum screening, spackle, and garbage bags, which were laminated and heated onto the surface. The last and most time-consuming step was adding the wave’s foam and spray using translucent garbage bags in varied thicknesses. “The oceans are so vital to our ecosystem that we must take notice and protect them,” adds Kretschmer. “Unfortunately, it seems that what’s out of sight is out of mind. It’s below the surface that the real tragedies are happening.” **Read More from The Oceans Issue** [_The Ocean Is Climate Change’s First Victim and Last Resort_](https://time.com/6190044/ocean-climate-change/) [_We’re Gonna Need a Greener Boat_](https://time.com/6189877/maritime-shipping-green-energy/) [_The Motion of the Ocean Could Be the Next Big Source of Green Energy_](https://time.com/6189832/ocean-tide-energy/) [_The Miraculous Trees That Could Save Pakistan’s Largest City from Climate Disaster_](https://time.com/6189898/mangrove-trees-pakistan-climate/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6190052/time-magazine-oceans-issue-cover/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6190052/time-magazine-oceans-issue-cover/"},"headline":"The Story Behind TIME's Oceans Issue Cover","datePublished":"2022-06-23T11:00:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:54:09.327Z","description":"This special package examines the perils facing our seas, which hold the potential to make a difference in the fight against climate change.","url":"https://time.com/6190052/time-magazine-oceans-issue-cover/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbfbd42266ba0ab29/698a3315929fad41fcbf8be3/BTS_Plastic_22Wave22_2_Image_2-8.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"D.W. 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