Mikhail Karikis talks about his relationship with SeaWomen

Recently exhibited in the Wapping Project in Bankside, SeaWomen focuses on a community of female sea workers living on the North Pacific island of Jeju - a volcanic rock between South Korea, Japan and China. Operating outside the currents of modernisation, this old and fast vanishing community consists of 50-90 year old women who dive to great depths with no oxygen supply to catch sea-food and find pearls. Mikhail Karikis’s immersive installation depicts the vocal practices of the women, including the unique sounds of their ancient and transgenerationally-transmitted breathing technique, their work-songs resonating in their camps, the noises of their democratic decision-making and of other communal activities. The project witnesses the women’s insistence on sustainable practices operating outside the trend of industrialization; it observes their reversal of traditional gender-roles, their deep sense of community and egalitarianism, their collective economics, and sense of professional identity and purpose in later age.*

During today's workshop in ShowRoom, Mikhail spoke about his relationship with the female sea workers.

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image: video still

*press release from artist's website

Mikhail Karikis is a Greek born and London-based artist. He studied at Slade School (London) and his work has been shown at the Danish Pavilion 54th Venice Biennale, MANIFESTA 9 (Belgium), the Barbican, the 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale (Greece), Tate Britain, Coreana Museum (Seoul), Galeria Eduardo Fernandes (Sao Paulo) and elsewhere.