Las Ostras
Research, Experimentation & PerformanceVideo Performance exhibited at
Ricostruzioni at the Torre della Prigione, Abbazia di San Gallo in Moggio Udinese, Italy, 2022
& #Social2022 Exhibition at Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in Gyeonggi-do, Korea, 2022
Photographs, video & performance
Duration 1 hr
Las Ostras is a continuing investigation into the species of oysters in the Pacific Ocean on the Oaxacan Coast of Mexico. This species was used as a focal point in human's connection to place and nature. For 30 days, Zosia spent time with the Oystermen, documenting the process from harvest to sale, listening, observing and embodying their relationship to this species. Through this research and time spent, she began to play and interact with the oyster shells that they discarded. A site-specific performance emerged on the location where the oyster shells had come to the end of life but would soon be carried back into the ocean by the waves to reproduce. The performance saw a re-connection to the bodily senses, feeling, smelling and listening to the shells. Notions of reciprocity, connectedness and reverence began to surface as the shells embedded into her skin.
What is the species trying to tell us if we listen to the land?
What is it showing us?
How can we reconnect to ourselves through nature?
What is it showing us?
How can we reconnect to ourselves through nature?
Oysters play a prominent role in the ocean ecosystem, and the world is seeing a severe drop in oyster populations. Oysters have been around since the start of humanity and to connect through the body to them, she was able to hold them in space and connect herself to the land around me.
