In the video “The Water Will Carry Us Home,” the aspects that stand out to me in particular is the ending where she throws flowers into the ocean and ‘plugs’ her seashell headphones into the shoreline. Tesfaye’s ritual of ‘plugging’ her seashells into the ocean, allowing herself to listen and tune into the Ocean, illustrates a rhythmic bond between humans and the Ocean.

The scene of a woman tossing flowers into the ocean, as one would at a grave, illustrates the long history of human interaction with the ocean. She honors the ancestors who lost their lives crossing the ocean during the slave trade, and the mermaids welcomed their spirits. In doing so, this showcases how human history includes the ocean. Humans have bodies lying on the ocean floor, just like the ones lying in the ground. This frames our thinking about recognizing the history that lies while crossing the ocean, not just the triumph of finding land. The experience within the ship life, and around it. Discussing the ideas of politics on the ship, and the bodies that were thrown or jumped off the ship. These key details add to our relationship with the ocean. Especially during the slave trade, where people were thrown into the ocean, showcasing how humans saw the ocean as a dumping ground. The ocean floor served as a resting place for those souls, taking better care of their bodies than those ships ever would. So, the woman’s ritual of tossing flowers into the ocean is an act of gratitude for the ocean taking care of our ancestors. Her visit to the beach is a ritual to honor the history of the ocean, delicately embracing the bodies of the past.  

Then, the scene of the woman putting on and plugging the seashell headphones into the shoreline demonstrates her tuning into the ocean, allowing her to hear the voices of the ocean. This action showcases this harmonious relationship humans could establish with the ocean if they care to listen. The ocean has become a home for many human bodies to rest, so we must honor its history with ours. If humans allow themselves to sync with the ocean, grow and transform alongside it, while we exist within this present allows us to unify with the land and sea.

Transfaye’s ritual in “The Water Will Carry Us Home” honors and listens to the ocean, establishing the unification of human and ocean history, showcasing the rhythmic bond between humans and the ocean.