Research trip
Expedition to Paradise Adrift – Research
A guest article by Janet Bellotto
Confronted by waves in our everyday movements, I have always taken the role of explorer in my practice. This stems from my curiosity to fathom the experiences we have in our short lifetime when compared to the infinite unfolding of the universe. It is stories connected to water, ocean and sea that I get entangled within while collecting – newspaper clippings, books, oral stories — from a whale washed up dead on the coast to stories of shipwrecks which catapult me deeper into questions about the ocean and the stories that it keeps. This begins my voyage to document and observe that then undulate into installations.
I see exploring islands as being a microcosm of the world–like something you might find in a petri dish. This is the case for Sable Island, known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” where centuries of travelers, colonizers and curiosity seekers found themselves in a place where no tree can root and any attempts to build eventually disappeared. In my own questioning of “life building” on the island, I see the ecological perspective – where plants migrate and find something to hold on to, where 40,000 seals give birth on a coast once covered by a walrus now extinct. The feral horses are Sable’s permanent residents, possible survivors from a 1700s shipwreck, who stare down with curiosity anyone approaching.
On the expedition to Sable I wanted to capture its fragility and isolation using photos and 360 degree video, as islands might not live forever. In the studio this transformed into a conceptual wave of retracing the journey. A passenger in one of ten zodiac boats I thought: Where are our lifesaving stations today — when zodiacs in open water are left without hope? Where can we turn for our island paradise to stay adrift? Are we left infinitely floating in the ocean with no opportunity to safely anchor? As an Ambassador of Sable, it requires a dialogue about sustainability and hope for what is to be revealed. Whether artist or oceanographer, as explorers they interpret data and images into something worth discovering.
