Sympoiesis, noun; collective creation or organization
...saelkie, selky, seilkie, sejlki, shelky, silkey, silkie, sulky...
....are mythological creatures that can shapeshift between seal and human forms by removing or putting on their seal skin. They feature prominently in the oral traditions and mythology of various cultures, especially those of Celtic and Norse origin. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie
The sound of grinding stones. Waves washing furiously on a beach. A loose weave of tangled roots of an old tree half buried in the sand.
Woman (Fernanda Branco) in a sea green silk dress, is searching for places to rest on the bare branches of an inverted tree, endlessly, as the sea herself. A steady wind blows patches of foam onto land, Woman's land, or that which once was a home.
Woman leans against this live image of herself in the video of the remote beach, projected onto tall white walls. She, in the same outfit, is physically present in the gallery at Oslo National Academy of the Arts this high summer solstice evening.
Woman tries out the flat surface against her back, as if the sharp corner will eventually conform to her body. - Will the wall let Woman into the world of the stranded tree? - Will she find her way back to the land where roots blow wildly in the wind?
Woman keep changing places and positions on the cold concrete floor made of gravel, ground into a smooth and solid surface, a steady ground for spectators to step on. - Will the floor eventually let Woman through its impenetrable plane and back to where concrete once came from?
- Is my vision coloured or is the floor tinted sea green?
Woman lying on her side, lights above leave spots on her skin and dress, shaped as amoebas in motion. Lit up, she resembles an oceanic creature, on the surface only. As she gets up and walks over to a cubicle in the otherwise open gallery space, she has no fins, bare legs of bone.
Behind a long curtain made of the same fabric as her dress, Woman stands. Her bodily curves shape the silky textile, create a wavy vertical landscape, as if the sea herself has risen. Then, a longing whale song wells out of her depths, echoes in the acoustics of the gallery.
- Or is it my hearing that has altered entirely?
After an immeasurable amount of time inside this cosmos made of hypnotic sound, the music of sand in creation, a landscape in transmutation, I am turned upside down. My weight is pulling my crown to the ground and beyond, deep into the waters in me.
Somebody's body is no longer searching restlessly. Me, Woman have found a way home and become with each other, with waves in fury, flying foam, grinding stone.