Why is the ocean referred to as “she?” It is thought that this reference came from sailors missing their women. Yet, this association of female imagery with the sea has a much longer history. In Greek and Roman mythology, dangerous but beautiful Sirens and Greek and Roman sea deities lured mariners with their enchantments. Mermaids appear in British folklore as unlucky omens and Phoenician and Egyptian tales portrayed female gods helping or hindering humans in their struggles with the sea. SHE-SEA follows this tradition and takes this powerful influence over a sailor’s world, the sea, asa metaphor for the women in his life and his fantasies and dreams. But, like the ocean, the females in his life may have contradictory qualities – beautiful but dangerous, calm but turbulent, supportive but unpredictable.
SHE-SEA recreates the fantasy world of a sailor’s dreams as he encounters the allure, mysteries and furor of the ocean.A space once lined with hammocks holding sleeping men rocking to the rhythm of the ship moving on the waves, is transformed by an installation combining video projection, sound, and draped fabric. Projected images, fused with vocal interpretations of the sounds of the sea, immerse the viewer into a different kind of sailor’s world. This sailor, living in the company of 429 men, desires a feminine presence as he looks out over the ocean, and dreams.
June 25th, 2016 – October 2nd, 2016 Spruce Street Harbor Boat Basin, 211 S. Columbus Blvd., Philadelphia, PA
