"A Letter to the Ocean" by Ashley Page & Alejandra Cuadra

March 5 - April 1, 2023

Above still images from A Letter from the Ocean

As winner of the Fountain Street 2022 open call for exhibition proposals, multidisciplinary artist team, Ashley Page and Alejandra Cuadra present “A Letter to the Ocean”, a video component to their exhibition “Earthly Bound”. Below is the writing that companions the piece.

A Letter to the Ocean

Mother.

Your salt composition matches my own and I laugh at our similarities

You and I are no different, you see. I am you, and you are me

The push and pull, this give and receive, I wonder if you know how much you mean to me 

Your healing waters meet my own and the sound of your song lulls me to sleep 

As your vessel shelters my own 

How do I learn to listen to all the mysteries that you hold

How do I learn to give back to you beyond what you give to me?

So vast, so deep in your glory

You shelter me, you give me warmth 

In times of need

In times of joy

A home of warmth and a voice of wisdom

It washes away all that doesn’t serve me 

A siren song

An invitation 

A revelation

I walk in the footsteps and inhale the whispers of those known and unknown to me 

I formed this vessel out of mud, water, and clay

And thus I am multiple layers 

Rooted within the veins of memory 

The waves sing the songs of the living and the hymns of the dead

I ask for their wisdom, their stead 

They tell me I am a choir

And they tell me to look ahead