In the beginning there was only the ocean,
and then...
THERE WERE WESTERLY WINDS
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
SUSTENANCE WAS FOUND IN GLISTENING FISH
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
UNKNOWN VESSELS CROSSED
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
PATIENCE WAS TESTED BY THE SCORCHING SEA
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
A SALTY RACE TO THE SHORE BEGAN
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 48 X 48
THE COAST WAS CLEAR
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
THE COAST WAS UNCLEAR
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
ISLANDS WERE LEFT BEHIND
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 4' X 4'
A BOY FLOATED
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 2' X 2'
A BOY DRIFTED
Oil Paint & Wax on Panel 2' X 2'
BATHERS CAME TO STAY
Oil on Canvas 6' X 7'
CARGO CAME AND WENT BY DAY
Oil on Canvas 6' X 7'
STONES THROWN MET THE OCEANS FLOOR
Oil on Canvas 6' X 7'
WAVES WEAKENED THE SEA WORTHY
Oil on Canvas 7' X 8'
HOPE SLIPPED TO SHORE
Oil on Canvas 7' x 8'
In The
Beginning
There Was
Only The
Ocean,
and Then,
This series of paintings was born when I began to catalogue my dad’s photos from his anthropological study on trade on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. When I posted my dad’s historical photos on Instagram I was inspired by the images from PNG that followed. I became interested in images of people with a symbiotic and subsistent relationship to the coast. And I was moved by the never-ending stories that contain important knowledge that is passed on and holds cultures together. I see coastlines as a borderline for transformation. I chose to paint with a specific palette of predominantly pinks and yellows for their luminescence referencing both Turner’s seascapes and Turrell’s skylights.
See un_archive “Freeing the photo archive of Thomas G Harding, Anthropologist, 1937-2013”