ENDLESS SEA
[Work in progress]2024
RECOVERED RECORD FROM THE DECOMMISSIONED MEKONG MARINE OBSERVATORY:
I keep dreaming about a large jellyfish swallowing me whole. Its tentacles don’t sting. They’re soft on my cheeks. I’ve never seen one, of course, but I read all about them in school. I think this one is making me think about jellyfish. I stare at it all day, so it keeps me company in my dreams too. Actually, it hasn’t reacted to any of our tests. Very stubborn. I told you about that song we keep hearing? And how my grandma used to sing something similar? She was stubborn too. She came back here and stayed even when the first evacuation zone was announced. ██████████████████████████████████ ███████████████████████████ No, she stayed until she passed. She’s buried with the rest of the family, I think. That would be at ████████, actually. I wrote down all of the important places before they sunk completely. She’d probably be happy to see that I’m back here now. Maybe the jellyfish is her spirit trying to tell me that.
I keep dreaming about a large jellyfish swallowing me whole. Its tentacles don’t sting. They’re soft on my cheeks. I’ve never seen one, of course, but I read all about them in school. I think this one is making me think about jellyfish. I stare at it all day, so it keeps me company in my dreams too. Actually, it hasn’t reacted to any of our tests. Very stubborn. I told you about that song we keep hearing? And how my grandma used to sing something similar? She was stubborn too. She came back here and stayed even when the first evacuation zone was announced. ██████████████████████████████████ ███████████████████████████ No, she stayed until she passed. She’s buried with the rest of the family, I think. That would be at ████████, actually. I wrote down all of the important places before they sunk completely. She’d probably be happy to see that I’m back here now. Maybe the jellyfish is her spirit trying to tell me that.
RECOVERED RECORD FROM THE DECOMMISSIONED MEKONG MARINE OBSERVATORY:
I found it at 01:15 on the main deck. It’s not complete, I don’t think. No, it wasn’t my shift last night. I was up because I heard the singing again. It sounds like a recording my grandma used to play. ███ recognized it too. It was wet when I found it, but it shriveled up once I brought it into the lab. It was so heavy, like something was weighing it down. Like it was reluctant to leave the sea. But you see it’s so small. I can’t stop looking at it.
I found it at 01:15 on the main deck. It’s not complete, I don’t think. No, it wasn’t my shift last night. I was up because I heard the singing again. It sounds like a recording my grandma used to play. ███ recognized it too. It was wet when I found it, but it shriveled up once I brought it into the lab. It was so heavy, like something was weighing it down. Like it was reluctant to leave the sea. But you see it’s so small. I can’t stop looking at it.
RECOVERED RECORD FROM THE DECOMMISSIONED MEKONG MARINE OBSERVATORY:
It looks exactly like the bánh chưng my mother used to make for new years. I haven’t had it since I was little. ████ was salivating. I could see her whole face change once we brought it in. She said it looked like a gift. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ I’m not sure what happened afterwards, but they came and got her before she could go any further. ████████████████████ I don’t blame her. I could taste it too.
It looks exactly like the bánh chưng my mother used to make for new years. I haven’t had it since I was little. ████ was salivating. I could see her whole face change once we brought it in. She said it looked like a gift. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ I’m not sure what happened afterwards, but they came and got her before she could go any further. ████████████████████ I don’t blame her. I could taste it too.
RECOVERED RECORD FROM THE DECOMMISSIONED MEKONG MARINE OBSERVATORY:
It was waiting for me. I mean it was waiting for me. I tried to bring it up with ██████, but he thinks I’m seeing things that aren’t there. But there can’t be any other conclusion, is there? I mean it was ████████████████████████████████████████████ ███████████ █████████████████████████████. The story, the specimens, the words in the song we’ve been hearing. What else could it be? They want us to follow them to sea.
It was waiting for me. I mean it was waiting for me. I tried to bring it up with ██████, but he thinks I’m seeing things that aren’t there. But there can’t be any other conclusion, is there? I mean it was ████████████████████████████████████████████ ███████████ █████████████████████████████. The story, the specimens, the words in the song we’ve been hearing. What else could it be? They want us to follow them to sea.
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In the aftermath of the war in Vietnam, millions of people fled Southeast Asia by boat. Over 250,000 of these refugees never left the sea.
This project speculates on a world in which these refugees lost at sea never drowned. Instead, their contact with the ocean and will to survive activated a watery mutation that allowed them to thrive underwater. Instead of a graveyard, the ocean became a new home.
100 years later, as rising sea levels devastate Southeast Asia, the descendants of these refugees re-emerge in the overworld in an attempt to save their kin from imminent ecological collapse. They invite their remaining kin to join them in the water, to live in safety and prosperity in the endless sea.
This project speculates on a world in which these refugees lost at sea never drowned. Instead, their contact with the ocean and will to survive activated a watery mutation that allowed them to thrive underwater. Instead of a graveyard, the ocean became a new home.
100 years later, as rising sea levels devastate Southeast Asia, the descendants of these refugees re-emerge in the overworld in an attempt to save their kin from imminent ecological collapse. They invite their remaining kin to join them in the water, to live in safety and prosperity in the endless sea.