from land to sea to land

from land to sea to land (2025) is a 15-minute guided visualisation through text and sound that invites the listener to transform into a watery being. It is accompanied by a soundscape of field recordings and ambient electronica. You can best experience this work lying on a floor mat, bed, or beach.

The text is inspired in part by ongoing research into sea shanties, Jutlandic folklore, and mythological sea creatures. Merpeople, selkies, and other shape-shifting sea-beings can be thought of as symbolic of humanity’s cultural, psychological, and evolutionary interconnectedness with the sea. ‘Selkies’, also known as 'the seal people', are mythical creatures capable of transforming from seals into humans. This unique ability to shift between the sea and the land has fascinated various cultures, leading to many stories and legends.

The text was written in dialogue with artist Marie Kølbæk Iversen, who has conducted research into Jutlandic folklore and the idea of ‘metempyschosis’: the belief that our souls transmigrate into other species after death be it plants or sea-beings. This visualisation takes a more recursive form and focuses on different states of transformation that are never conclusive. 

This project was co-developed with Brent Biennial 2024 and Hosting Lands, Laboratory of Aesthetics and Ecology in Denmark.

Credits:
Harun Morrison with Marie Kølbæk Iversen
Recited by Fatima A. 
Sound design by Joe Bell and Harun Morrison