VÂN ANH LÊ

ENDLESS SEA

Video with sound, 3 minutes and 19 seconds, 2024

RECOVERED RECORD FROM THE DECOMMISSIONED MEKONG MARINE OBSERVATORY:

I keep dreaming about a large jellyfish swallowing me whole. Its tentacles don’t sting. They’re soft on my cheeks. I’ve never seen one, of course, but I read all about them in school. I think this one is making me think about jellyfish. I stare at it all day, so it keeps me company in my dreams too. Actually, it hasn’t reacted to any of our tests. Very stubborn. I told you about that song we keep hearing? And how my grandma used to sing something similar? She was stubborn too. She came back here and stayed even when the first evacuation zone was announced. ██████████████████████████████████ ███████████████████████████ No, she stayed until she passed. She’s buried with the rest of the family, I think. That would be at ████████, actually. I wrote down all of the important places before they sunk completely. She’d probably be happy to see that I’m back here now. Maybe the jellyfish is her spirit trying to tell me that.

Objects made from bioplastic, algae, seaweed, tapioca starch, glycerine, banana fiber, and water

In the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, millions of people fled Southeast Asia by boat. Over 250,000 of these refugees never left the sea. This project speculates on a world in which these refugees lost at sea never drowned. Instead of a graveyard, the ocean became a new home. 100 years later, as rising sea levels devastate Southeast Asia, the descendants of these refugees attempt to reconnect to the land above and save their kin from imminent ecological collapse. In this video, a researcher stationed at a marine base near the coast of what-was-once Vietnam discovers strange objects have begun appearing overnight. In the early mornings, she hears distant singing, inviting her to return home to the endless sea.

Vân Anh Lê