Speculative Archive, Material Research & Site-Specific Installation

 

Vessels of the Same Sea is a site-responsive archival installation that re-narrates the Brooklyn Navy Yard through both natural and human history. I collected naturally fallen seashells along the Yard’s shoreline and paired each specimen with a historical vessel once built or launched nearby, using location as the connective thread.

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Each pairing functions as a “double vessel”: the shell records ecological time, while the ship carries industrial and military memory. Through specimen cards, layered maps, and material displays, the project frames the waterfront as a shared narrative surface—where residual marine life and maritime history continue to coexist. It asks how an industrial site can still generate life, memory, and meaning after its original purpose has faded.