Ebb and Flow

Shirley Hannan Project Space, SECCA Bega – February 2025

Ebb and Flow presented a series of three video works filmed underwater in Narooma, NSW, accompanied by an original soundscape by composer Jamie Saxe. The non-narrative, immersive works invited viewers into a contemplative space where they could slow down and reconnect with themselves.

While living in Narooma, I regularly snorkelled at the netted area of Bar Beach and began filming there in 2021. Returning to the same location over many months, and viewing the marine environment through my camera, I came to experience it differently. Finding rhythm in the constantly shifting underwater world, I learned to surrender to the ebb and flow—not only of the water, but of greater forces in my life—accepting failure, loss, and heartbreak, yet always returning to begin again. These video works emerged from that process.

Ebb and Flow continues my exploration of how human encounters with the natural world shape spiritual experience and symbolic meaning through light, motion, symmetry, and repetition.

The piece Just Hanging from this exhibition was a finalist in both the Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize 2025 and the STILL: National Still Life Award 2025.

Ebb and Flow, Installation view, Shirley Hannan Project Space, SECCA Bega, 2025

Catch My Drift, 2022,
single-channel video, HD, 06:00