Tracing the Ocean and Common Heritage, 2026

(Archives, Texts, Original Audio Recording)

Installation by Mekhala Dave

Our primordial ocean, held within Kanaka Maoli genealogy, is a sea of history and memory across space and time. Tracing the Ocean gathers fragments carried across journeys and encounters with the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans: Sāmoan washed-up coral exoskeletons, memories from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Jamaican seashells, alongside stories, texts, sounds, and legal thought. Brought into Lindabrunn, these fragments meet its limestone quarries and artistic practices unfolding around them. The work traces an unabating intimacy with the ocean. The ocean offers a way of thinking through inherited concepts and imagining other possibilities for how we relate to our world within.

If the World were your Oyster, Symposion Lindabrunn, 2026

Curated by Mekhala Dave

I've spent the past few years leading initiative to research the deep ocean, its role in the fight against climate change, its unique marine biodiversity, and its symbiotic relationships. Above all, the growing demand for critical minerals is driving geopolitical interest in the international seabed, making its governance among the most complex in international law. I've gained first hand insight by having attended many sessions of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Kingston, Jamaica, which regulates the Common Heritage of (Hu)mankind. Alongside, I’ve been fostering relations with local and coastal communities on the ground. This work took me to the shores of the Pacific Ocean too. Along the way, I've learned a great deal and, admittedly, continue to learn, as the deep ocean opens pathways to emerging knowledge that draws together techno-scientific and data research in conversations with indigenous values. It also brings in de-colonial perspectives, artistic and cultural meanings. This section shares my journey and offers a collection of critically engaging with these ideas through deep listening, rigorous and sustained research. It is inspired by many conversations, exchanges, and, above all, by the ocean itself.

Image © Maria Sabanovic 

Solidarity with Maui