Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2016
Document Type
Capstone Project
Degree Name
M.A.
Program
Liberal Studies
Advisor
Sophia Perdikaris
Subject Categories
Fine Arts | Modern Literature
Keywords
Oceanic, Offshore Art, Waterborn Art, Poetry, Sea
Abstract
This paper and the poetry cycle (Wet Data) it describes are in dialogue with a wide array of social and cultural histories of the sea; the production of the sea as a social, economic, and militarized space; maritime ethnographies; as well as artistic and literary projects stemming out of what are now being termed offshore art and forensic literature. The ocean is a contested territory that plays a profound and often under-examined role in defining geopolitics and nationalism under globalism. In eco-critical and creative art contexts, the sea is often represented as a metaphor for loss, the outside, and the unknown; the sea-voyage is frequently deployed a metaphor for the journey of life and the boat as a site of transgression. Through poetic, archival, and forensic practices, artists and writers turn their gaze toward the sea, giving order to its “negative archives.” Which practitioners are breaking into and finding means to represent, communicate, and learn from this “unknown” in the face of increasing global inequity and the climate crisis, and how efficacious are the methodologies they employ?
Recommended Citation
Sullivan, Kendra M., "Wet Data: The Ocean and its Negative Archive" (2016). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1560