Sea Woman

When I arrived on the coast of Massachusetts after leaving the pioneer valley, I was initially at a complete loss for what kind of artwork I wanted to make. Continuing my work with sculpture felt impossible; I was feeling uninspired and hopeless. And so I decided to return to my first love, and perhaps the thing that brings me the most pure joy: video art and filmmaking.

Given my location, I knew right away that my setting was going to be the beach, and I became interested in the archetype of “The Fisherman’s Wife”, or the seemingly universal concept of a woman waiting by the sea. This led me down several paths, from researching selkies and the Japanese Ama tradition, to revisiting seminal works such as At Land by Maya Deren.

I created a character from instinct, dressing myself in clothes that I felt were readable: thick wool sweaters, linen, and a headscarf. I wanted my character to be less of an individual, and more of a signifier of a tradition. The key similarities between all the different myths and media that I researched seemed to be concepts of independence, freedom, and selfhood. I imagine the feeling of when yearning for another becomes so unbearable, (such as a husband at sea), you have no choice but to turn inwards towards yourself. So I wanted my sea woman to embark on a surreal, dreamlike journey of self-discovery.  While the film does not follow a concrete narrative, my character is led by mystical forces, only to find and activate a startling, unknown version of herself.

More than anything, I think of this video as an aesthetic experiment, of seeing how far I can push familiar imagery into the unfamiliar, and of creating a character out of preconceptions and motifs. I would also like to say that this is a project in process for me, and although I’ve constructed a complete draft, it is still very much in flux.