A Sea Change is created with assistance by Michelle Hall, Elizabeth Bills, Noemie Huttner-Koros, Haseena Abdul Majid, Josten Myburgh, and Aisyah Aaqil Sumito, with additional filming by Georgi Ivers and editing assistance by Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson. It features a new composition, Falling in love, by Psychedelic Snakeskin, and new field recordings by Josten Myburgh. It also features the following historical recordings: Humpback whales (c 1990) by Megan Hyde; Atlantis (1968) by Donovan; and Solo Whale (1970) by Roger Payne, provided courtesy of Ocean Alliance. Additional sounds created by Megan Hyde and recorded and mixed by Josten Myburgh.
Under the Mirrored Moon is an installation that explores the spaces between desire, play, magic and transformation.
At the centre of the installation is A Sea Change, a new puppetry and performance-based video that revisits the 1837 Hans Christian Anderson tale The Little Mermaid. Subverting Anderson’s admonishment of deviant female desire, A Sea Change tells a story of interspecies love, loss, courage and self-discovery through the connection between a girl, a witch and a whale.
Evoking elements of a child’s fort, witch’s lair and sea cove, Under the Mirrored Moon sets the stage for the video’s unfolding narrative. Scattered throughout the installation are the handmade puppets and props that feature in the video, created with everyday materials such as cardboard, paper, twigs, fabric, yarn and paint. Puppets play a central role, used as a means to imbue a connection to one’s inner child and sense of imagination, as well as to explore complex topics, such as the relationship between grief and rage, interspecies love amidst environmental devastation and the vulnerability needed to forge new ways of living and loving.