“disappearing islands in our oceans.”
After recently reading about newly discovered island in the South Pacific ocean made of the ash from the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga and the islands are being swallowed by rising tides, there are new islands forming, displaying this endless cycle of destruction and rebirth. As we discuss climate change and what humans have done to the planet it is amazing to note the ways Mother Earths attempts to continue on and balance the continued destruction of the planet. We are the cause of a island to disappear, and she creates a new island to replace it.
During the WWXI residency I would explore ways the female body as a representation of the islands would dissolve into water using soft mylar, plastic sheeting, LED lights , slo-motion video and movement. I am inspired by artists who use low-fi and very little post-production techniques as filmmaker Michel Gondry and video pioneers Joan Jonas and Maya Deren. I am interested in using simple tactile materials to evoke the feeling of the ocean and the outdoors using these man-made materials. Using the image of the human body sinking and drowning and then coming up for air, reanimated again, becomes a metaphor for the human condition, and our daily struggle to “keep afloat”, to stay “above the tide.” Also our human hand is a cause of climate change, we get the sense of the human involved moving the mylar- we see the slight silhouette of the body, the angle of a knee or elbow. Using the female body to represent the island reflects the “tradition” in the modern English language to give many objects a female pronoun. “She” is an optional figure of speech used when talking about Mother Earth, most bodies of land, islands and the ocean. Continuing with my recent explorations this season with plastic, translucency and light, the video clip at the link below is a recording of me underneath 20 feet of mylar and surrounded by 20 feet of plastic sheeting. The plastic and mylar represent the tides and waves in the ocean, and the body as the island, below the wave struggling to reemerge from the oceans depths. The lights shines on the mylar creating reflections on the walls in the surrounding room, evoking an reflective arctic feel. The video slowed to a 25% speed, gives the feeling of slow waves undulating over the submerged land. The final project could be a full color video with sound projected onto a wall or free-standing curved soft surface wall.
video of sketch: https://vimeo.com/247733231/3b8be99bdc
image below: still from video showing the plastic and mylar sheets and reflections.
I look forward to seeing how the work develops as our discussions evolve each week.
