elsa lamartina
VISUAL ARTIST
I created the Ocean
Photo: I created L'Oceano
Printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Fine Art Paper, Bright White, 310gsm, 100% Cotton; opaque white frame with glass, cassette, 3.5cm deep
size 54x37.33
Oceanus, the great Father
The ocean speaks of the abyss, of the fear of being captured by the dark, by monsters. The ocean holds the great unconscious: who has never thought, swimming in deep waters, "now a shark or some sea monster is coming and taking me away"? Who, scrutinizing the sea bed with a mask, doesn't feel that sensation of the unknown in the belly – terrifying but also magnetic unknown – which depicts the power of the unlimited, which confronts us with primitive fears that are rekindled?
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When we lay on our backs at the sea, and let ourselves be lulled by the waves, we realize that from there we can only look at the great infinity, the sky. As if the ocean allowed us, looking up, to change perspective.
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Sometimes I think there's a line, the infamous horizon, che divides two worlds, the one on Earth e the one who lives in theOcean,with his phantasmagorical creatures – giants and very small – cthat we do not believe possible exist because they are far from even the canons of the imagination.
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As a child when I asked myself what I would like to find in the afterlife, after death, I answered myself that I wanted to see unknown worlds, the ones difficult to know during life, like the deepest depths of the abyss, down, down, down , where strange creatures live, and then also to see the space of which the abyss is made. I wanted to see all those worlds that seem pure fantasy to me in documentaries.
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The deepest point of the ocean is called the Mariana Trench: strange creatures live here, fascinating and frightening, absurd to see or even just to imagine. Very similar to those that were "born" in my ocean.
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It has been verified that the maximum depth of the ocean is 11.022m, but for me it remains infinite.
"The symbolism of water leads us on a journey into the depths of our psyche, which probably has no equal in other elements precisely because of its universal meaning and inextricably linked to the themes of birth, death and rebirth". Bruno Tagliacozzi
All images can be sold both with print and frame or fabric prints of the installation that took place at thelamartina atelier.
For more information and see all the shots
Making of
To carry out the project "I created the ocean" I used a bowl, but not just any. It is in fact a particular container because it is one of those I used to carry out the project"The Fury of the Sarno".
This bowl has been my ocean.
To shoot, I used water that I colored with natural dyes that are used in the food sector; then I would move the bowl and shoot as much as possible.
Only after many images did I look at the computer what had emerged from the shots, edthat's where the magic happened because among so many abstract forms I also glimpsed many zoomorphic ones.
I tried to get as close as possible to the colors of the sea, to do this I collected many archive photos from the web that portrayed the sea and the ocean. So I created a series of palettes that inspired me.
I mixed colours, looked for nuances, reflections, put some water in the bowl and put drops of color then another and then maybe more water and I started to move and shoot. Finished, I removed that water and created another one with different colors and so on.
In the end I decided to keep most of the used water; so I also created my private collection of ocean water.
