︎ serenade of water
2024
Séries de six cyanotypes uniques, datés et signés
sur papier aquarelle à grain demi-satin
18 x 24 cm chacun.
Series of six unique, dated and signed
cyanotypes on semi glazed watercolour paper.
18 x 24 cm each.
—
“In its caves the salt moans, mountain of buried light, translucent cathedral, crystal of the sea, oblivion of the waves.”
— Ode to salt, Pablo Neruda
— Ode to salt, Pablo Neruda
In February 2024, I took part in the SÍM Residency in Iceland during a month thanks to the Individual Mobility Grant from Culture Moves Europe. My main goal was to create a series of cyanotypes made of seawater and other organic materials found in the landscape.
During my research process, I navigated at the same time the wonderment of being so close to the ocean, the moutains and the sorrow that came from learning how climate change impacted the oceans. For this project, I especially wanted to focus on how warming climate has an effect on ocean salinity. In a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Science, ETH Zurich, the American National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of St. Thomas and the Pennsylvania State University, researchers found strong evidence that changes in ocean salinity can be used to estimate changes in Earth’s water cycle, because salinity variations very sensitively reflect the net exchange of freshwater between the ocean and the atmosphere. “Evaporation takes freshwater from the ocean into the atmosphere and increases the ocean salinity; precipitation puts freshwater into the ocean and reduces its salinity. Consequently, salinity changes integrate effects over broad areas and provide an excellent indicator for water cycle change.” Lijing Cheng introduced.
I wanted for the work to contain the beauty of the water cycle as I was witnessing it in Iceland : rain, snow, ice and the oceans... while using elements available to me that could translate visually changes linked to salinity and acidification. I decided to use snow, ice, vinegar for its acid ph and to create salt crystals on coated paper after a happy accident. I also realized that rinsing my prints with hot water toned them, as the hot water in Iceland contains sulfur. Those cyanotypes, going from almost entirely white to deep blue are the results from a collaboration with water in every step, elements that can be linked to what disrupt oceans eveywhere on Earth. Those shades of blue, “the color of longing for the distances you never arrive in” as Rebecca Solnit would say, or the color of Joan Miro’s dreams contains both my love and gratitude to the oceans but also a sense of grieving for what is being lost. What happens when what makes you dream is vanishing ? I spent hours by the ocean, walked inside a melting glacier, stood tall under an amount of snow that I haven’t experienced since childhood and wondered what the future held for these experiences that have been full of joy, wonder and a feeling of togetherness with our planet.
During my research process, I navigated at the same time the wonderment of being so close to the ocean, the moutains and the sorrow that came from learning how climate change impacted the oceans. For this project, I especially wanted to focus on how warming climate has an effect on ocean salinity. In a study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Science, ETH Zurich, the American National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of St. Thomas and the Pennsylvania State University, researchers found strong evidence that changes in ocean salinity can be used to estimate changes in Earth’s water cycle, because salinity variations very sensitively reflect the net exchange of freshwater between the ocean and the atmosphere. “Evaporation takes freshwater from the ocean into the atmosphere and increases the ocean salinity; precipitation puts freshwater into the ocean and reduces its salinity. Consequently, salinity changes integrate effects over broad areas and provide an excellent indicator for water cycle change.” Lijing Cheng introduced.
I wanted for the work to contain the beauty of the water cycle as I was witnessing it in Iceland : rain, snow, ice and the oceans... while using elements available to me that could translate visually changes linked to salinity and acidification. I decided to use snow, ice, vinegar for its acid ph and to create salt crystals on coated paper after a happy accident. I also realized that rinsing my prints with hot water toned them, as the hot water in Iceland contains sulfur. Those cyanotypes, going from almost entirely white to deep blue are the results from a collaboration with water in every step, elements that can be linked to what disrupt oceans eveywhere on Earth. Those shades of blue, “the color of longing for the distances you never arrive in” as Rebecca Solnit would say, or the color of Joan Miro’s dreams contains both my love and gratitude to the oceans but also a sense of grieving for what is being lost. What happens when what makes you dream is vanishing ? I spent hours by the ocean, walked inside a melting glacier, stood tall under an amount of snow that I haven’t experienced since childhood and wondered what the future held for these experiences that have been full of joy, wonder and a feeling of togetherness with our planet.
