We, The Ocean

‘We, The Ocean’ is a collaborative sculptural installation and live performance series co-directed by contemporary dancer, Nadia Milford, and artist, Dani Cabs. The four-part series is designed and curated as an interactive and reactive performance that transforms, photosensitive material into a unique masterpiece.

 The first performance creates the artwork through movement to a bespoke soundscape on top of a sheet painted in cyanotype – a photosensitive emulsion that reacts to sun exposure, turning the fabric a deep blue. The dance over the fabric blocks areas from the light, creating an intricate pattern across the material before washing it in the ocean to solidify the photographic process. Across the four-part series, each performance is a reminder of the movement all around us, the change that’s always occurring, and invites viewers to look a little closer at what was, and what is now, to reveal life’s beautiful ephemerality.

In 2021 Swell Sculpture Festival viewers were invited to wear headphones to listen to the beautiful sound score composed by Anna Whitaker and be inspired to walk and move across the installation, to place sand on parts and uncover others and become performers themselves in engaging with the work.

Original costume designs by Ella Lincoln

Sound compositions by Anna Whitaker 

We, The Ocean was proudly supported by Regional Arts Development Fund. The Regional Arts Development Fund is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the City of Gold Coast Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.