“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here.”
- Alan Watts
Our oceans are facing drastic changes according to scientific prognoses. Rising sea levels, higher water temperatures and growing acidification are just some of the challenges, marine life currently has to fight.
These changes are partially caused by natural fluctuations, but humanity is accountable for the momentousness of these challenges. As a result of those changes, the ocean’s biodiversity is encountering bold shifts and, in the long term, so is humanity.
Triggered by in parts dystopian scientific prognoses I am creating my very own future vision of how the marine biodiversity and ecosystems might change in the future.
Not only do we start our lives “floating in amniotic fluid”, but fins are also the first thing a human embryo develops, even before growing feet.
(Nestor, 2015)
The sublime is understood as a reaction to awe. There can be seen a distinction between ‘thin’ and ‘thick sublime’. The concept of thin sublime is established by Burke. He sees the sublime as the “immediate affective arousal” and the “immediate reaction to awe” (Shapshay, 2020).
The theory of thick sublime can be found in works of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer. The philosophers are writing about one lingering “in that experience of awe.” The “mind starts to reflect on the features of the awe-inspiring landscape or
phenomenon.” It comes to a “cognitive-affective engagement”.
Furthermore, Kant and Schopenhauer “understand the sublime as an emotional response in which intellectual reflection on (…) ideas about humankind’s place in nature, play a significant role.”
(Shapshay, 2020)
About 71 % of the Earth’s surface is
water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water.
(World Ocean Observatory, 2018)
Still today, especially trade is the one connecting force, by which everyone is unavoidably connected to the ocean. Especially today, the majority of all consumer goods is shipped. This trade system “is invisible and necessary as a structure for the circulation of goods that unites us in the best of times and separates and alienates us in the worst.”
(World Ocean Observatory, 2018)
Unfortunately, this connection is barely appreciated than rather exploited by us.
Centuries ago mankind shifted its relation to nature from being overwhelmed and humbled by it to feeling the “need to outsmart natural environments”. (Roncken, 2018)
The quality of nature has been degraded and humanity’s conclusion is to modify environments and therewith disrupt entire ecosystems.
We are not only growing distanced from nature, we are starting to turn it into humanity’s enemy, that “makes life difficult for men”. We put ourselves in the role of the victim, while we are losing sight of “what man did to nature”. (Pye, 2015)
We start shaping nature the way it brings us least discomfort and most profit. Nature gets modified along our expectations and environments get upgraded into what we consider to be an upgrade to the “sublime devastation of nature”. (Roncken, 2018)
Anthropogenic climate change is the result of our actions and it evolves over the course of decades. For the momentous part the ocean determines the extent of climate change and “its regional expression in particular”. (World Ocean Review, 2010, p. 71)
The supposal that the sea will continue to provide for us eternally is naïve and dangerous.
The ocean is in a staggering shape already and humanity should start to “apply their knowledge, their understanding, and their energy toward plausible scenarios for alternative futures.”
(World Ocean Observatory, 2018)
I made the word sublime part of my collection-title Sublime Devastation. The title describes the moment of experiencing a shift of perspective. The situation that expounds how severe we humans influence nature and how urgent a change of actions is.
Burke once described the sublime with the oxymoronic terms ‘delightful horror’.
Referring to my concept, I believe in the “moral function (of the sublime) of inducing a sense of awe and respect”, as I am positive that this awe and respect could help us reconnect with nature over time. (Roncken, 2018)
I decided for body related objects as the wearing of something often connects us to it in a way an autonomous object never will.
Jewelry in particular is one of the oldest and most sustainable form of body objects there is.
I decided to use only four different materials through my collection. Silver as the long-lasting material that is skin friendly and covered with a layer of rhodium it has the perfect cold vibrancy I am looking for.
In addition to silver I am using aluminum. Aluminum is a very light metal and quite unusual to work with in jewelry as it does not belong to the precious metals. I however like the feel and look of this high polished metal which also has a cold color. The lightness of this material gives me the freedom to work in bigger objects without risking the wearability of the piece.
The process of finding the right shapes I started with two-dimensional collaging.
Following I have started sketching three-dimensionally. I used 3d-prints and store-bought man-made objects as a base and modified these objects with modeling wax. I was looking for a feel as if the objects have “mutated into a semi-aquatic (animal themselves), sculpted by the sea.” (Attlee, 2017)
Further in the process I realized that the connectivity is a fundamental component in my concept. The connectivity of humanity to the ocean, the connectivity of cultures and communities through the ocean as well as the connectedness of processes within the ocean.
Taking this connectivity as a dominating visual translation I started linking different elements to each other.
Weiskel describes the sublime as “an instrument in the `making of meaning´” and I would like to use this instrument to sensitize others for this concern.
With the publication of this project I am hoping that my experience will transfer to the public and will inspire more people to seek sublime experiences and make themselves available for a shift in perspective.
The conclusion of this project and its process is a collection of 28 jewelry pieces and 4 bags, separated in the three groups disruption, mutation and degradation.
All elements are casted metal objects, for the necklaces and bag straps, casted in aluminum and for all further jewelry objects casted in sterling silver and rhodanized for the sake of a colder color. Overall this collection is built up of a variety of shackles that are linked into each other to accentuate the connectivity that this project is focusing on. Connectivity between humanity and the ocean, the connectivity between human to human, the connectivity between jewelry and man and the connectivity of life in the ocean.
The separation into the three groups follows the pattern of what I imagine the shift in perspective might be able to provoke in a longer term.
Disruption as the moment of the “Sublime Devastation”, an experience that makes an individual rethink its position in nature and reevaluate its daily habits to reduce its negative impact on the environment.
Mutation as the transformation nature will be going through when humanity reconnects to nature and finally stop repressing nature on various levels. Nature will be taking back over, and humanity has to find a way to accommodate with it and live with it in balance.
Degradation would be the last step of this imaginative future where human influences from our current time slowly degrade and retrieve from the living spaces of animality and floristic realm.
This collection is intended to be a reminder of where we come from and that there is a chance to reconnect and to harmonize the relation between nature/ the ocean and humanity.
I want to use the connecting power of the ocean to build new connections through my collection, through conversations and encounters. The ocean has been able to connect all continents, different nations, cultures and beliefs over time and with this project I want to use some of this power to bring back this connection to nature but also between people to actually start a conversation on what we can give back to nature and how we can adjust our habits to stop harming our environment and stat treating it with respect again.
I want this story to be told for the sake of the oceans well-being, the preservation of oceans biodiversity and therewith the preservation of humanity
One might argue that projects like this will never amount to anything more than a single drop in a limitless ocean. But what is an ocean if not a multitude of drops.
all pictures by David Lemanski
Our oceans are facing drastic changes according to scientific prognoses. These changes are partially caused by natural fluctuations, but humanity is accountable for the momentousness of these challenges. This project is exploring the history, contemporary development and future potential of the connection and disconnection between humanity and the ocean.
The hypothesis is, that mankind might be able to reconnect with nature through a sublime experience. A sublime experience is not something that can be created, but which one has to stand open for to perceive. However, one can help sharpen other’s minds to realize encountering these sublime moments. If humanity would reconnect with the ocean and win back an understanding on how dependent we are on marine ecosystem services the value and respect for the sea would rise. The practical research results in a collection of body objects that synergize man made elements with marine life structures and textures. Aiming for a high accessibility and a sensitization of a wide range of people, the body objects are designed to be wearable and approachable.