I sink down, meet you at your level,

feel the dampness of Djeran in my sitting bones.

Your body: skin, translucent

Can we talk?

You are phytoplankton,

sperm whale, forests of kelp.

Your forests shrink. I can cast you in metal,

make you eternal.

But what of the sea lion, the sea

dragon, the dugong? Cast them too?

Your skin ripples and curves,

picks up debris, washes,

then dumps.

CONCURRENCIES

Major Sea Snake 2022 | corrosion cast in methylmetacrylate 300 x 180 x 25 mm

ABSTRACT

Tineke Van der Eecken shifts her focus from the tributaries of rivers and forests to the breathing oceans and seas, a territory yet unconquered by the human dominion. Yet in this conquest, we use technology to push complex ecosystems to the brink; seismic blasts, dredging and drilling confounding their inhabitants.

We fish populations of sea life – living or dead – and dump new continents of waste, engulfing the ocean with plastic; from rippling surface to the very bottom of the deep sea. 

You are invited to dive into a world of complexity, gut and heart, grief and loss, joy and wonder in a tribute which extends through Tineke’s works to the oceans of now and then, and into our collective future.

EVENTS

ARTIST TALK

October 6 10.00 AM

Boola Bardip Museum WA

A part of the Indian Ocean Craft Triennial 2024.

RESOURCES

MEDIA RELEASES

POETRY

Concurrencies at Alister Yiap Gallery – Indian Ocean Craft Triennial

SHOWS

PUBLICATIONS

This exhibition has been made possible with the support of the Minderoo Foundation Artist Fund

Dr Shaun Collin, Dr Jenna Crowe-Riddell and Dr Lucille Chapuis from the Neuroecology Group at La Trobe University

Dr Bob Rumes and Tinemiet Van Maele (Natural Sciences, Belgium), Dr Christophe Casteleyn, Dr Sophie Muylle, artist Alexi Williams (Animal Morphology Museum, UGent)

and generous funding from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries in Western Australia.