Disgorged by the Ocean into Liminal Brightness

In winter months the west coast of the Olympic Peninsula is lashed by roiling storms out of remote regions of the Pacific. During this time, the detritus of the deep ocean is washed up in vast tangled fields of kelp, bone, and plastic. These mats are prowled by bear and seabirds, who pick at the refuse. Worn and bleached, the plastic and the bone are often indistinguishable in the grey winter light.

As part of the project, our team traveled to these rugged shores to collect marine debris. Pieces of detritus were collected and interwoven with LED lights and donated ghost nets into a glowing simulacrum of the storm wracked tideline. Sculptural leviathans rise out of the depths of our collective unconscious to form and dissolve in the tangled nylon netting.

Brightly shining from within, the installation imagines the tangible reality of ocean pollution as the dream landscape of our civilization. Gently breathing, the assemblage is both the physical and psychological flotsam of our interconnectedness. Swimming in endless waves of plastic particulate and glowing trash, viewers are invited to be caught in a liminal brightness dredged from the deep.

Accompanying the main sculpture, there will be a video installation about the project, and open studios featuring the artists of East Creative Collective.