SEA SONGS
Date: 2022
Created for “Swept Away: Love Letter to a Surrogate”
Curated by Warren Neidich
Guild Hall Off-Site
East Hampton, NY
October 30, 2022
This collage depicts the Sea Songs installation [link to SS on Installations page] I created on East Hampton’s Main Beach. The work plays on the fragile beauty of the coastline and the ocean, as well as our plunder of the precious natural world. Damaged snow fencing, used to shore up the dunes against erosion, is shaped in a spiral, forming a labyrinth-like pilgrimage to the center. Along the fence are slips of dissolving paper with quotes from great writers about the sea, written in invisible ink. Viewers are invited to choose a slip, read its quote and write their own thoughts with invisible ink pens. When they arrive at the center of the spiral, they can toss their papers into a tub of sea water and watch them dissolve. A soundtrack of great songs, from Bob Dylan to The Beatles, Jimmie Cliff to Lady Gaga, about the sea adds to the chorus of written voices, strumming our hearts.
