What does it mean to build a world instead of a single artwork?
For years, I carried an imagined underwater landscape within me, and a cinematic universe I wanted to develop from the ground up. I wanted to create a place where textiles became environments, music became architecture, and storytelling existed beyond the limitations of language.
Eventually, that world became The Kelp Forest.
Presented at Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Seattle during the summer of 2026, The Kelp Forest was an immersive installation celebrating African-descendant and Indigenous diasporic cultural narratives through visual art, music, and multi-sensory storytelling.
Hand-sewn tapestry curtains hung from the ceiling, their patchwork forms resembling seaweed suspended beneath the ocean's surface. Projections of oceanic imagery and mandalas surrounded the space, while sound baths and original music created an atmosphere for reflection. The music was an invocation of personal power, drawn from direct experiences and emotions influenced by returning to self and to source.
At the center of the installation was an open area where visitors could lie down, meditate, move, or simply exist.
I wanted to create a world where people could experience art without the expectation of producing something in return.
Building the Forest
The beginnings of this project were not particularly linear.
I was a Engineering school graduate fascinated by sea kelp, surface patterns, and textile design. I wanted to make a landscape. I wanted to create a music video. I wanted to build a cinematic universe. And I had a 10 step plan.
My education in industrial design and UX taught me to consider how people interact with materials, environments, and objects. But as my creative practice expanded, I became increasingly interested in experiences that could not be measured through conventional ideas of function or productivity, but to rely on emotional impact and overall wellbeing.
What if an environment could be designed for imagination?
What if a space could invite someone to reconnect with their body?
What if the purpose of an artwork was simply to create belonging?
These questions shaped the development of The Kelp Forest.
The installation became an opportunity to combine years of experimentation across textiles, painting, music, storytelling, and community arts education.
Rather than forcing these disciplines to exist separately, I wanted them to become part of the same world.
Beyond the Surface
Kelp forests are living ecosystems. Beneath the surface of the ocean, they provide shelter, nourishment, and an interconnected environment for countless forms of life.
I became interested in the possibility of creating an artistic ecosystem that reflected these qualities.
The textiles throughout the installation were gifted by mothers, community members, relatives, and loved ones. Each piece carried its own history before becoming part of the work.
The music was created through relationships with collaborators, musicians, and community arts organizations. The installation itself was shaped by the people and experiences that have sustained my creative practice.
In this way, The Kelp Forest became a reflection of the lived experiences I as an artist held within, in alignment with the relationships, environments, and worlds I was building in my own life, now about to be translatable as a living and breathing experience. An intimate lense into the heart of a dreamer.
I hope visitors who experienced the installation carried away a sense of connection—to themselves, to one another, to ancestry, and to the living world.
For those encountering the project for the first time, I hope these writings offer an invitation into the forest.
A world beneath the surface.
A place to breathe.
A reminder that our existence is enough.
Thank you for taking the time to read the inaugural blog post of Entangled Oceans. The goal for these publications is to eventually write a book.
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