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The sea in Chinese culture

The Chinese goddess Mazu originated with the deification of a young woman named Lin Mo Niang who had performed numerous miracles during her short life. She was known as a healer, curing the sick while teaching people how to prevent illness and injury. Many of the miracles she performed involved quelling storms at sea, so it is hardly surprising that she is known as the protector of all seafaring people.

In folk tradition it is believed that, when you are facing great difficulty, you can call her by the name "Mazu" and she will immediately come to your rescue. If, however, you address her as the "Empress of Heaven", she will have to take time to put on her fine clothing and will be delayed in coming to your aid!

She is said to have the gift of ‘second vision’, marine folklore is filled with tales of catastrophes averted when the goddess Mazu, dressed in red, appeared to sailors as a warning that unseen storms were rising and that their voyages should be postponed.Many a seafarer has recounted times when the goddess Mazu appeared as a bright light on their troubled ships, arriving just in time to calm a storm and save their lives. Some said that Lin Mo could actually ride clouds across the ocean, and appear in the flesh to rescue them.

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installation ideas

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Return to the Sea, Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto

“Traditionally used as a symbol for purification and mourning in Japanese culture, the artist’s use of salt emanates from a powerful personal experience in working through the death of his sister. His artwork is rooted in themes of life, death, and rebirth, and his process with salt has helped him cleanse his grief. “

Despite being a fine art piece this has also inspired me tremendously as it took inspiration from a place- the sea- and through the use of sea salt explores its history and personal significance. I love this piece because of the themes it portrayed and the ghostly atmosphere it creates. I’m also intrigued by the way its presented, the fact that each installation is site specific outlines just how fragile the work is and in relation to its theme outlines just how fragile life and experience can be. This is something I would like to loosely incorporate into my work by making sure that the installation itself, not just what it depicts bares significance and connotations to my themes. 

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John Akomfrah Vertigo Sea Trailer

Vertigo Sea is my main inspiration for my work, I love the idea of a narrative split between three screens and the ambiguity of his work. His work presents the vastness of the sea and how many different meanings it has to different people, just like the beach in my home city has a different meaning to me and to others throughout time. 

Unlike Akomfrah, I’d like to use all original footage with possible archive sound and project onto fabric which is suspended from the ceiling and flows in the wind much like the motion of waves rolling. the themes I’d Like to explore through my narrative are 

Chinese folklore

ghost ship stroies

baptism at sea

Classical myth/epics

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Proposal 

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Idea

being inspired by my trip to Poland and the sea, embodying the calmness and and sense of ease it gives me I would like to recreate that in a context of and installation. 

Id like to project the sea onto 3 screens made of fabric, each layer/screen representing the wave an encouraging the audience to walk in between them. 

I hope to play an audio narrative over the sounds of the waves to bring the audience into a sense of peace. 

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Taken August 2016 and January 2017

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Places Significant to Me

Before the launch of the module, having some idea of what the project is about I took a trip to Poland, which is where I grew up and come from. Having lived in England for almost 11 years now my trips back ‘home’ are sporadic and usually happen during the summer. This means that for the past 11 years I haven’t seen the place I grew up in the winter.

GDANSK

Being a coastal town and a popular tourist spot for all of Europe seeing the city in the summer is much different than seeing it in the winter, the tourists are sparse and the city is dominated by the locals, the real character of the place comes out. Gdansk is an old and historical city, the Old Town architecture is heavily influenced by Denmark and Germany but in places hints of communism can still be detected. These come out most in the winter when the city is not trying its best to keep up appearances.

Last time I have been to Poland was last summer and many things happened in my personal life to change the perspective I had of places. Going back in the winter these changes were embodied by the change of season and general appearance of places which have been important to me. I documented this change by photographing these places in the winter and comparing them to the pictures I have taken in the summer.

The first set of pictures (ref. Father. Stop Signs.) have been taken in the last places I’ve seen my father before our relationship took a sour tone, coincidentally after taking these pictures I realized each one included a stop sign which in a way symbolizes the stop of our relationship. The pictures are dark empty and grim looking which reflects my new perspective of them and their symbolism to me.

Another big part of the change between summer and winter was the beach. Growing up on the coast to me the beach and the sea feel most like home, all my happy childhood memories occurred there and one of my favorite things as a child was going on beach walks in the winter, the contrast of sand and snow and the lack of people was always the most endearing experience as its one you only get as a local. Having been away fro such a long time I sometimes question my own nationality and have a skewered sense of belonging, being half Moroccan and now having an English accent when I speak polish I question whether or not I can truly call myself a local despite being born and brought up in Gdansk. So the experience of going to the beach in winter is one which reassures me that I can.

However going to my most local beach in the evening just as I always do in the summer was a much different experience, I felt oddly uncomfortable by how dead and quiet the typically busy beach is. I was the only person of the tram going to the end destination which is usually packed (even during winter) during the day yet at night it was just me and the tram driver. Walking to the beach all the huts were closed, the lights were dim, there were no cars in the car park and everything was quiet, when I got to the beach it was so dark I could not distinguish where the sand ended and the sea began and the shapes and shadows in the dark which turned out to be people spooked me so much I practically ran out. The beach at night during winter is not a place where people go for leisure but to be alone.  

Overall on this trip I learnt how everyday places can bare a magnitude of meaning for some and for other just be a crossing, the experiences that have happened there are all personal and relative.

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On my way to the beach at night, the darkness and ominous feel of the photograph reflects the darkness and anxiety I saw and felt being at my childhood beach 

Beach.

(Stogi, Poland, January 2017) 

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Father. Stop signs. 

(Gdansk, Poland, January 2017)