Recently, I went to visit an exhibition I saw advertised on the internet called 'Underwater' at the Bluecoat, where a range of artists where displaying work that focused on being submerged in water and the world of water, and being underwater.
Firstly, I watched a video call 'Jellyfish Lake' by Dorothy Cross (2002) in which a woman, whose head is above water, but not held upright, but floating, is floating in water, with lots of jelly fish floating around her. There is no sound, which I found incredibly eerie, and because you don't see the woman's face, you begin to ask questions about her physical state - is she dead? and her mental state - is she okay? Why is she floating in the waters like this? However, even though all our questions are about the woman, the video focuses very much on the jellyfish, how they move, their patterns of movement, as they duck and dive in front and behind the camera. Even though it seems quite eerie, it is also very calm, the water in which she's in is calm, and settled, and although "spooky", it doesn't seem to alarm us to any danger.
 |
| Still from 'Jellyfish Lake' by Dorothy Cross |
Secondly, was 'Submarine II' by Cut + Scrape, and my initial and only thoughts about this installation piece, which had a motion sensor on it and emitted submarine noises, was what is the point? The dates on the information said 2007-10, and I couldn't comprehend what they'd spent three years doing.
Another video was showing, called 'Becoming Light' by Bill Viola (2005) which showed two people (possibly lovers) half submerged in water, but unlike Cross's woman in the water, these two looked as though they were struggling, the video was in high definition and slow motion, which looked really interesting, but I thought the video represented a different side to water, the more dangerous, imposing side of it, which could possibly symbolise the love of these two people? Just some thoughts...
Some more pieces that I loved where two photographs by Daniel Gustav Cramer, which were called "Untitled (Underwater) nos 17 and 18" (2009). These images where incredibly appealing to me, but also incredibly spooky looking, I think Cramer has really taken on board the aspect of looking at the underwater world as another world. The waters he depicts are murky, not the picture perfect seas we see in the travel brochures, but I absolutely love these images of his, I think they are beautiful.
 |
| From the Underwater series by Daniel Gustav Cramer |
Finally, I looked at some illustrations done by Ed Pien, from a set called "Two Worlds" (1999), these images seem to depict aspects of our world, above water, with those of the underwater world. These combined, present us with a kind of morphed character, which sometimes look ugly and scary. Could this be symbolic that land and sea can never be one? They are two completely different entities and cannot and should not be combined?
 |
| An image of some of Ed Pien's work for 'Two Worlds' |
