Creative Project Statement
“Staying with the trouble requires making oddkin; that is, we require each other in unexpected collaborations and combinations, in hot compost piles. We become-with each other or not at all. That kind of material semiotics is always situated, someplace and not no place, entangled and worldly. Alone, in our separate kinds of expertise and experience, we know both too much and too little, and so we succumb to despair or to hope, and neither is a sensible attitude” – Donna Haraway’s Introduction to Staying with the Trouble (2016).
I think this quote beautifully explains how in order to make any meaningful impact or response when tackling something of sheer magnitude, it takes collaboration from many different people. During the week on Cuttyhunk, I experienced the power of teamwork from working in the field with passionate and knowledgeable people from the Center for Coastal Studies, conservationists, artists, island residents, volunteers, and my fellow Cornellians. We all came together to do something that none of us could have done single handedly.
My project aims to encompass the essence of my experience during the week on Cuttyhunk. The first is a watercolor painting of the bricks we removed from the lobster traps. All of the bricks looked so different, and it reminded me of how all of us from different backgrounds and experiences came together on this trip. The second is a dreamcatcher I constructed with various lobster trap parts (metal ring, netting, ropes), natural shells and rocks I found on the beach, and other items from home (yarn, string, etc.). The aim is to depict both the manmade and natural aspects of the island and their entanglement during the work of marine debris cleanup. The third is a slideshow to capture the memories of the trip. It incorporates pictures I took with a backing track of “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana on flute, along with various clippings of natural sounds I recorded on the island.