Scroll down to learn more about the OCEAN INSIDE
We are water
Emerging from the sea onto land billions of years ago, life took its aquatic origins along; a Hypersea, encapsulated in an architecture of veins and root-systems. We are mostly made out of water. It moves in and out of us, sustaining us. From this point of view, it is difficult to separate organism from environment.
We breathe the ocean
The connecting principle is Metabolism- in our body, environment and in our society. The metabolism in our bodies is powered by our breath and dependent on healthy lungs. The air we breathe is affected by the interaction of our society in its environment.
oxygen from the sea
Most of us don’t realize that the oceans are even larger Lungs of the Earth than the forests, and that phytoplankton, or algae in the ocean, are estimated to contribute between at least 50 up to 85 percent of the oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere.
Corals are a foundation species
global temperature is rising
Seven billion humans inhabit this planet and as a species, we have become a geological force. Not only are we capable of altering the landscape and balance of the biosphere, we have altered them. The impact is deeply affecting the oceans, in the form of over-fishing, pollution, rising temperatures, and acidification.
ice melting, sea levels rising
The ocean has a fever
corals are bleaching
“Coral Bleaching in itself is a stress response, much like a fever in humans is a stress response. If the temperature spikes just a little bit above their normal range, corals will start to bleach. The small plants that live inside their tissues, their ability to photosynthesize and feed the animal host is impaired....."
".......The animal essentially senses, 'what I have got inside of me is not doing what I expect it to do', and as happens with us when we get a bacteria; we try to get rid of it as quickly as possible. That is exactly what these animals do. They try to get rid of those plants that are no longer functional, and leave behind the transparent naked tissue. They have lost the very most important food source that they have. So they are starting to starve.”
Ruth Gates, marine biologist. From the documentary: Chasing Coral 2017
The bright white you see at first is the skeleton. If the reef is not living, it will overgrow with algae and the structure will disintegrate. The whole ecosystem will change and many dependent species will disappear.
Many attempts are made to regrow coral, as the reefs form natural protection from damaging waves during storms and hurricanes.
plastic pollution
According to a report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2016, “at least 8m tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean – which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050"
Research released a year ago found there were more than 5tn pieces of plastic floating in the seas, many just 5mm across. Larger items can be a threat to sea life such as turtles and seals, which swallow them.
A carelessly discarded plastic bag can break down in the sea, especially in warmer waters, but the process releases toxic chemicals that may be digested by fish and end up in the human food chain.
Scientists have also found that countless tiny fragments drift to the bottom of the oceans, carpeting the sea bed. The environmental and health impact of this is unknown.
the ocean veil experience
immersing
The OCEAN INSIDE uses synthetic materials to express forms and patterns found in nature, and our society’s relationship with it. By creating and visualizing an iconographic, interconnected web of life, abstract concepts such as climate change or pollution are transformed into a singular, personal experience.
reflecting
The reflecting, printed pattern on the voile intersects the video projection, a network representing the Web of Life.
surrounding
The location for this veil should be a darkened space and if the veil hangs a few meters off the wall in the room, the visitor can also move behind it and become immersed in the projection.
creating the ocean inside
about the artist
Eveline Kolijn is a Dutch-Canadian artist whose interest in the biological sciences and concern for the environment is expressed through printmaking and sculptural installations made from found synthetic materials. Her interests were encouraged by an international childhood spent in France, Venezuela, Belgium, the Dutch Antilles, the Netherlands and Australia.
Natural history has always permeated her life. She grew up in the Caribbean, where she and her family collected and corresponded on Caribbean shells, building an extensive and well-documented collection. In 2008, the collection was donated to Naturalis, the museum of natural history in Leiden, the Netherlands. A variety of ideas on evolution influenced her upbringing as well. From books on this topic she absorbed images depicting visible and invisible life and connected them with the forms and patterns found on the beach and in the sea.
making the veil
The first Ocean Veil was printed with white inks and mica powder on sheer polyester voile, which Eveline sewed into a cylindrical shape to mimic a plankton collecting net. She carved a linocut and handprinted a phytoplankton pattern that was both reflecting and blocking light, depending on the position of the light source. This printed mica-base turned out to be an amazing reflective screen for video projection. She created a new plankton pattern on a 55 x 90 cm linoleum sheet and printed a projection-surface of 180 cm high and 240 cm wide. She is now exploring possibilities of creating an even larger Veil.
ABOUT THE VIDEO
In the past decade, Eveline has taken countless photographs related to the sea and marine biology. She revisited Curacao, the Caribbean Island where she grew up, many times. In more recent years she also used a GoPro action cam to film underwater footage. The OCEAN INSIDE video features footage from Curacao, Bonaire, Canada, Greece, New Zealand, Namibia and Iceland. The current video is a project in progress and is still being edited and fine tuned. The next focus will be on trimming the footage and developing the audio. In 2018, Eveline will start recording voiceovers in several different languages.
Credits:
All images copyright Eveline Kolijn