《Thalassophilia》
- Light Box, Sculpture Installation
- Dimensions Variable, 2020
As a heterosexual male Tinder user in Taiwan, the artiststarted to notice that within this past two years, there are more and more women using scuba diving and snorkeling photos on their profiles as a way to introduce themselves to strangers. Fascinated with this phenomenon, the artiststarted to screenshot these profile photos in an attempt to understand why.
Upon investigation, he realized that the decisions for people to return to the sea is not only an ecological one, but also an evolutionary and a deeply political choice. Throughout the evolution process of living organisms, many animals once evolved from the sea had devolutioned back into sea-dwelling creatures due to various environmental reasons. For the past thousands of years, human beings have also become accustomed to the sea and ocean for food, profit, and conquest. During the age of colonialism and race to modernity, many countries that had once closed off their shores had to re-embrace the ocean to survive in the age of globalization. Finally, considering the current states of geopolitics and environmental crisis, it is perhaps only reasonable for humans to head back into the sea again.
