OOzy2 production still

OOzy #2: like oil and water

2022

3 minute video loop, sound

Sound by Scott Reitherman
Animation assistance by Ewan Creed

Commissioned by Niio

The ocean is not a body—and it is. Seeking its own level, it expands as much as it can. The ocean is a container. It is also a shipping superhighway; a resource for food and minerals; a space of mystery, adventure, fantasy, dream, and myth; a space to be mapped, measured, and known; and “Earth’s” greatest engine— that maintains, reflects and affects the regulatory systems of the planet. 

OOzy #2: like oil and water brings into view a sensual and fluid arrangement of kelp, marine organisms, human aquanauts, mermaids, plastics, and oil, who glide and drift queasily through the looping work. Oil and water do not mix. Our overlapping projections, desires, needs, and curiosities have in many ways violated the limits of ocean environments, as the cycle of human-caused damage and systemic repair cannot hold.