This body of work explores the environmental and cultural impact of the ever-increasing number of shipping containers circling the planet. The title of the series, Oceans Between Us, refers to the relationship between two container port cities – Norfolk, Virginia, my hometown; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where I did an art residency in 2024. The phrase is literal, yet also ironic, as the distance across oceans no longer presents a substantial obstacle to global commerce. Across languages and cultures, oceans are a metaphor for things that are too large for the human mind to comprehend, feeding into the idea that nothing we as humans do can harm an ocean. 

Oceans Between Us, Norfolk and Kaohsiung, 2024, ​cyanotype of photo negatives and plastic food packaging, 5.75 in x 27.75 in

                  Strange Plants, Norfolk, 2024, photo transfer and embroidery on found textile, 27 in x 27 in 

These themes are explored through embroidery and cyanotype. I use second-hand photographs from architecture books and antique textiles, embroidering invasive plant species that dominate the existing architecture and stitching. The cyanotypes are created primarily using sculptures of sea creatures made from single-use plastic. The embroidered photographs and textiles show the visual similarities of these ports on opposite sides of the globe, and how global shipping contributes to the problem of invasive species. Cyanotypes focus on ‘in-between’, the oceans, and how over-consumption and the preponderance of plastic are impacting them.

Oceans Between Us, Norfolk and Kaohsiung, 2024, ​cyanotype of photo negatives and plastic food packaging, 23.5 in x 59 in

Strange Plants, Kaohsiung, 2024, embroidery on found photograph, ​8.25 in x 5.5 in

Oceans Between Us, Norfolk and Kaohsiung, 2024, ​cyanotype of photo negatives and plastic food packaging, 23.5 in x 57.5 in