Oceanic Ground

Graduate Architecture Elective

Washington University in St. Louis

Instructor: Elisa Kim

The myth and materiality of the deep sea [its darkness, depth, buoyancy] has historically rendered it extra-geographic, placing it outside the realm of representation. This graduate elective asks the question: can ocean territories be configured as ground; a source of livelihood and a space of everyday life? A material study explores, through the use of water and ink, the shifting, transitional nature of bodies (islands) within the ocean and their inherent rootedness or un-rootedness. A cartographic essay focuses on "sea gypsies," people indigenous to Southeast Asia, yet claiming no home on land, rather living almost exclusively on small boats and rafts. Belonging to no politicized state, these people have an extraordinary perception of "land." The drawing attempts to understand this perception; one that inverts what might be considered ground, and skews, shifts, and blurs the boundary between oceanic and terrestrial territory.