The distance between us is a circle

2022 ongoing

Image configuration and prompt generation, bias and limitation development.

I employ a locally hosted model trained on my own artwork style. For this I am using an open-source GENAI model based on DALL·E mini by craiyon – via Huggingface. Images processed using deep convolutional neural networks, using bigjpg.

I am using GENAI as a form of technologically mediated mythmaking. These images allow me to conceptualise mythologies. These images exist as standalone works., however they are also ideations for an ongoing new media, sculptural, textile and hologram performance work, and an immersive video and sound installation.

All images copyright © Marlaina Read under CC BY-NC-ND

Marriage to a seal / the seal-woman shapeshifter

“But I can think of so many moments in human history that could be seen as times when the importance of care manifests itself by its absence, by the predominance of profound neglect. And at the same time, there are also all the labors, affections and commitments of care that keep worlds going even in the worst of times.”

– Maria Puig de la Bellacasa, Matters of Care, 2019

I am interested in the mythopoesis of the seal-woman hybrid – one mediated through technology – and informed by eco-feminist and post-humanist ideas, such as situated knowledge and ecological care.

Myths of the selkies in Scotland and the Inuit goddess ᓴᓐᓇ or Sedna, as well as histories of hunting seals as resource extraction, all have an element of harm in their stories. Selkies have their seal skin stolen, so the woman selkie is trapped on land in an abusive relationship. In many retellings Sedna has her fingers chopped off and is cast into the ocean by her father.

But what if the seal gets to keep her skin? And can we care for/understand seals, without seeing them in their natural home? How can we use technologically mediated mythbuilding (such as GENAI) and traditional art practices to explore all this?

In addition I am fascinated by instances of people and communities marrying the sea – their motivations rooted in histories of resistance – and cultural entwinement with the land and sea.

Poland's Wedding to the Sea
Venice’s Marriage of the Sea ceremony

Myths after all are stories we tell ourselves to understand the world, and myths are always changing, as we and the environment around us also changes.