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From the body of work Leviathan, which explores the surreal spaces beneath and alongside the massive hulls of trans-oceanic barges that port in the industrial waterways of the Pacific Northwest.Label
LEVIATHAN explores the surreal spaces beneath and alongside the massive hulls of
trans-oceanic barges that port in the often-polluted waters of the Pacific Northwest.
These vessels navigate the Inside Passage carrying cargo to and from Alaskan waters
and sail west, delivering materials to the Pacific Islands and scrap metal and timber to
Asia. Each layer of sediment, diesel, tar, and marine life that collects on the rusted
underbellies is a marker of their voyages and of the broader system of oceanic trade.
The names of the vessels, which also entitle the photographs, evoke their journeyman
purpose: "Western Venture", "Alaska Provider", "Atlas", and "Salvation" for example.
Their battered hulls, angular surfaces dented, rusted, oxidized, welded, and repainted,
symbolize the physical history of these trade routes.
Photographed by kayak beneath the massive sterns and bows of the vessels, a new
architectural space becomes apparent. Angular steel ribs jut out overhead, while
sunlight radiates geometric patterns across their oil slick and rusted skins. Vertiginous
stabilizing fins slice up from water's edge while hidden portals uncover layers of salt
and sunbaked runoff; elemental core samples of numerous oceanic journeys. These
are fantastical and imposing spaces in which scale, perspective, and light are
transformed and a sense of vertigo creeps in .