The South Korean artist JeeYoung Lee stood surrounded by piles of New York City trash: 4,500 plastic water bottles, 1,500 wine corks, dozens of sheets of cardboard and recycled newspapers. Ms. Lee, who lives in Seoul, was in a warehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last week, turning the local garbage into a cheery seascape installation, complete with gulls and rolling waves against a backdrop the color of Caribbean waters. At the center of it was a sailboat, where visitors could perch, bobbing on a sea of their own detritus. By Ms. Lee’s request, the newspapers covering her boat were awash in articles about Hurricane Harvey.

Her message — environmental disaster atop environmental disaster, some of it made by humans — may resonate on Instagram, where images of her project are certain to be shared. Or it may get lost amid the selfies and bright visual pop of her work. Either way, she said, she felt it would make its mark.