Tag Archives: week 11

Week 11: Sironomelia; Nature Prevails Human Beings

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Watching the first few minutes of Sironomelia was rather confusing to me, as we only got small glimpses of what was labeled to be an Arctic Nato submarine base with some underwater shots. But as the video progressed, we see a mermaid figure swimming around the waters of the base, completely alone.

I think back to the lessons we have discussed in class before, specifically on the relationships humans have with the ocean. Humans have historically neglected the ocean’s past, treating it as a history-less abyss devoid of life. However, that is far from the truth. Not only is it a historical wonder that holds all the secrets to life from millions of years ago, it is also full of life. However, if there is one thing about humans, they will do anything to conquer and politicize land that isn’t theirs to begin with. We talked about borders with coastlines in Eric Paul Roorda’s The Ocean Reader and in Helen Rodzwadoski’s “Introduction: in Vast Expanses: A History of the Oceans. Both of these readings emphasize the relationships humans have cultivated with the oceans. Dismissive, but also aggressive. What I notice in Sironomelia is the absence of humans—and with it, the absence of destruction and greed. We see a mermaid traversing this abandoned base, and I speculate that the intention of the film was that it takes place in the near future, devoid of humans.

Sironomelia tells the story of what kind of life prevails: humans are but a speck in comparison to the geological history of the Earth. But what does prevail is nature. What will prevail is the oceans. The mermaid we see is at peace because she doesn’t have to worry about the destruction that humans once brought to her world.

Week 11: Sironemelia (2017)

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After watching the short film I found that this was showcasing the reality that mermaids would live in present day. The mix of nature, such as the abundant amount of snow and glaciers, with the mix of man made objects such as the telephone or signal pole, the bridge, and the concrete canal, for example, show the “hard” reality of nature. Within the first minute we see the vast land covered with snow, to then get immediately met with metal structures, which I assume is some sort of satellite, which is then followed by the word “Sironemelia” being displayed on the screen with a soft, but distinct screech. This was almost like a screech that possibly a mermaid, or other creature that lives within this sort of environment could make. It was as though we were hearing the screams of those affected by the man made objects, which aren’t supposed to be there.

As the video continues, I noticed what I presume is a mermaid, swimming in dark water (2:48) within what looked like a tunnel/road. This reminded me of the wild animals who often become road kill trying to cross a road that was built within their natural habitat. Not only was it swimming within an odd place, but it didn’t swim with much grace, and swam in a way like it was stuck in place, or caught in something. Again, something like a wild sea animal caught within a sea net. That specific frame could capsulate several of the different stories of the mermaids that are attempting to live within the confines of man and their spaces. Trapped, unable to move freely with the grace a mermaid has.

Week 11: Fluid Identity

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The short film Sirenomelia uses underwater imagery and minimal sound to explore the bodies that exist between categories, challenging the viewers to rethink what it means to be seen, understood, and accepted. The fshort film first begins with blurred figures moving through water with nothing being clear at first, almost dreamlike. By making it visually uncertain, the film pushes us to question the way we normally expect bodies to appear in the water

As for the title, Sirenomelia refers to a real congenital condition in which a baby is born with fused legs and is often commonly referred to as “mermaid syndrome.” Naming the film after this condition sets the tone and encourages us to focus on the bodies that society may label as “abnormal”. By presenting the body underwater where shapes can flow and merge freely, the identities feel fluid both literally and symbolically. This is shown when the camera lingers on a slow gentle movement under the surface and distorts the body, not in a cruel or frightening way, but in a peaceful, almost protective manner. The silence and soft ambient sounds reinforce this feeling, making the view become more aware of breathing, movement, and presence.

In this sense, the films main message seems to be about embracing difference. By keeping the body partially hidden, the film resists the idea that identity is something that must be clearly defined or fit within a standard. Instead, the film invites us to slow down and accept the ambiguity, and see beauty in forms that wouldn’t normally match conventional expectations.

Sirenomelia: With or Without humans, something happens

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While watching Video Art Visions: Sirenomelia, what came to mind was how we discussed in class how many people perceived the ocean as unchanging. Which by the modern age due to advancements in technology alongside a change of understanding, debunks this. The part I would like to focus on is the shot where the mermaid can be seen swimming in a canal (I think) marked with human influence. From the railings and inside the obviously man-made tunnels to it suddenly cutting to the greater ocean, devoid of anything but itself and water. It goes to show that things are happening away from human eyes. It goes on to show that with or without human influence history is still being made. Nature is an evermoving force and like time itself won’t stop. The mermaid exploring the NATO base before going into the ocean is like a view of our history.

But at the same time we humans still have a part in it. Showing the decommissioned and abandoned NATO base alongside multiple shots of the nature around it, harkens to the idea humanity and its legacy isn’t separate from nature. The ice and show blend in with the man-made things in a way that doesn’t necessarily try to cover or get rid of the constructs. Rather its like nature is accepting humanity’s creations before it eventually falls apart and rejoins with the Earth. In a similar manner to how when humans eventually die we’ll return to the same starting point once again.

The Ocean as Memory: Tesfaye Reclaiming History Through Water

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Gabrielle Tesfaye’s short film “The Water Will Carry Us Home” focuses on the Igbo peoples time on a slave ship through the middle passage, and who were thrown out to the sea. Tesfaye’s depiction of this story de-centers land as the main source of history on earth, and instead portrays the ocean as an ancestral world of transformation. There is fluidity to her imagery, with floating figures, womb-like forms, and gentle water coloring creating a space of rebirth, continuity, and liberation for a people considered lost to history (3:56).

The setting in the given frame isn’t merely a backdrop but a fully lived in, active, and inhabited world. The use of water color dissolves borders and boundaries and creates something more fluid and alive, contrasting that of the static and grounded imagery associated with land. In western civilization history is written on and in monuments and borders, it is fixed and owned. Imagery in the short film rejects that, through the frame ancestry is something in motion and situated in memory rather than geography. By turning to water, Tesfaye implores her audience to “see” in a decolonized point of view. In resisting the idea that home, belonging, and history are anchored to land one remembers the history of people thrown to the sea. There are people, such as the Igbo people, whose history—usually that of migration—is tied to the ocean. In this case, the ocean is a sort of archive without any edges where spirits go to live, transform and remember. 

What is most striking in the frame is the curled, womb-like figures. Though these women’s bodies were tossed in the sea with intentions of death, the imagery of the figures suggests a sense of rebirth despite not being on solid ground of earth. These forms are untethered, they float in suspension emphasizing a weightlessness compared to a rootedness. Furthermore, many of the figures cradle their wombs; their nurture is literally happening in water much like how we are born from the water in the womb. The ocean itself becomes a symbol of the womb, a sight of gestation instead of intended destruction from Western colonizers. Western ideology often imagines birth and creation coming from solid ground, Adam from Earth and civilization from soil for example. Tesfaye shifts this land centric point of view to that of creation from the sea. This aligns more closely to African mythologies where water spirits (such as Omambala) embody life and power. The given frame, specifically, reframes the Ocean as a source giving life rather than devouring it, offering a counter narrative to that of a Westernized history. The Igbo people are depicted as a part of history that lives on instead of lost souls in the sea. 

Tesfaye’s short film invites the audience to rethink how history is written. That a terra centric history is not the only history just because it is what is most commonly taught. The enslaved people who were thrown out to sea have a history, and though it may not be on land it lives on. “The Water Will Carry Us Home” is a short film that asks people to see a history of water and the sea, one beyond Westernized ideology.

The Ocean as a Battleground

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In the short film Sirenomelia, Emilija Škarnulytė moves away from an anthropocentric view of the environment by using a mermaid to explore an abandoned military base to interlace history within the environment in which it takes place. Through this de-centering of humans, it removes human domination over historic narratives and gives other entities the agency to tell history from their point of view.

The use of a mermaid to explore the ruins of a military base from the Cold War helps rethink the notion that history is limited to humans by viewing the remnants of the base through a non-human perspective. Specifically, the scene of the mermaid swimming around structures connected to the base (Škarnulytė 3:50) showcases how human technologies often impact the environment around them. Rather than solely focusing on how human activities impact other humans, the film shifts perspective to another entity to show us that humans do not exist on the Earth alone, and that what we do is not limited to implications that just affect humans. Škarnulytė allows us to see history from a different perspective and how events like the Cold War make an impact on the environment around it. The militarization of the aquatic environment doesn’t just affect humans, but also the beings that exist in that environment, who now have to deal with the aftermath of these deteriorating structures. It is the mermaid that is in control of what the audience sees as we flow through the different settings with her. Humans become the spectators as we watch the mermaid swim through the decommissioned base, making the mermaid and the environment that surrounds her the main characters of the film. The environment is no longer a passive being as it illuminates the marks of human ambition that have been inflicted upon it.

This new perspective forces humans to reassess their ability to use the environment as they see fit since the environment and those who inhabit it are not immune to its effects. Simply because the sea has remained constant doesn’t mean that it’s not constantly changing below the waves and full of life. It’s not an endless resource that humans can utilize for their own benefit without any consequence. Having a mermaid display how nature is stamped with human domination gives the audience the capacity to rethink the belief that nature and all those who inhabit it are separate from human history and conflicts. Nature is not a submissive entity that is immune to these repercussions, as it showcases throughout the film how the human desire to pillage leaves scars on the environment and those who live within it. In turn, this complicates humans’ ability to view the environment solely as a resource because the film brings to light the idea that nature is alive, allowing it to feel the ramifications of human domination over the environment.