A Chair for the Ocean

2025

Collage and digital art series

Global discourse shapes the future of the ocean, but where is the ocean’s voice at these tables? A Chair for the Ocean imagines what it means to offer the ocean a place to sit in decision making. By anthropomorphising the ocean, this series invites empathy for more-than-human lives affected by climate collapse.

Each image reframes post-consumer waste like twisted nets, weathered fabric and discarded documents into sculptural assemblages resembling chairs. These seats suggest an unseen presence through absence, hinting at a body submerged or already gone. Restless and agitated, the ocean is disrupted by chair-like forms. They hold space for grief as quiet portraits of something (or someone) both witnessing and warning.

This project was generously supported by the Australian French Association for Innovation and Research.