Volta do Mar / Return from the Sea
Volta do Mar / Return from the sea (work in progress)
Single channel film [HD and 4K], broken hand painted ceramics, re- upholstered Georgian chair, props, repeat pattern screen prints.
Volta do Mar/ Return from the Sea is Kwant’s latest project combining film, ceramics, upholstery and repeat pattern prints (2021 - present)
Volta do Mar references a navigational technique perfected by the Portuguese in the age of discovery in the 15th century, literally translated “to return from the sea.” The technique harnesses the westerlies or ‘anti trade winds’ to navigate ships back from the Caribbean and America to Europe. Here it is repurposed metaphorically in a new artist’s film, which reconsiders our relationship to place, memory, history and colonial trade.
Filmed across key sites in the artist’s birthplace of Whitehaven Cumbria. Through a series of embodied performances the artist invites us to meditate upon our interwoven histories in a reparative gesture, a lament towards the healing of the land.
The work offers a deeply personal journey through the dark history of Whitehaven, raising questions surrounding the artist’s own position as a white British artist; how is it possible for people to heal from the trauma of colonialism? If dialogue is a prerequisite for reconciliation are we having the difficult but critical conversations across racial, generational and class lines? Which parts of our history have been forgotten or silenced and need to be remembered?
Alongside the film, the project includes new works including ‘Broken Punch Bowls’, two re-upholstered Georgian chairs and a limited edition series of hand printed screen prints (further information below).
‘Broken Punch Bowls’, hand painted porcelain bowls, made in collaboration with Rachel Ho (2022)
‘Transatlantic’ re-upholstered antique Georgian chairs, Editioned screen prints 1/10 (2023)
For ‘Broken punch bowls’ I worked together with ceramic artist Rachel Ho. The shape of the bowls echo sugar boiling coppers found on Plantations across the Southern USA & Caribbean and also reference English Spode blue Italian Ware (c1816). My hand painted images give voice to historic and contemporary socio-political events - from John Lowther (who founded the port of Whitehaven in the 17th century and was pivotal in the export of coal), to the 18th century lighthouse, an Antiguan Windmill (rum was imported from Antigua into Whitehaven to sell at Jefferson’s Rum Shop), to English Channel crossings, surveillance and the hostile environment - making links between immigration, politics, colonialism, empire, memory, object and place.
‘Transatlantic chairs’ is a series of two re-upholstered Georgian chairs. The repeat pattern print references Spode Blue and White ceramic ware and incorporates images related to the colonial history of West Cumbria embedding historical and contemporary subjects within a traditional tile pattern. Images include a slave trader (plantation owner) with pipe (Whitehaven important Tobacco from Virginia and Maryland), CCTV cameras - referencing the UK’s hostile environment and sugar cane (imported into Whitehaven from Antigua.)
