A Remembering From The Indian Ocean

Spirit of Saltwater is a remembering transmitted through stories, song and spoken word, accompanied by music of the traditional sega/ moutya drum and other traditional Indian Ocean Creole instruments.

It is a weaving together of myths, histories, music, literature and art, family memories and personal experiences that trace an ancestral relationship with Kianda, a mermaid spirit creolised between the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds, from the time that the oceans formed into the present moment.

Created as a response to experiences of historical and linguistic erasure, an inherited Creole and oceanic identity and life in the wake of a family’s recent migration to Britain, Spirit of Saltwater is an attempt to harness belonging and reconnect with heritage at the edge of a new sea.

The remembering is delivered at the end of the harbour arm in Margate, where Kianda, trapped in a new form, is syncretised with the statue of Sophia Booth – lover of JMW Turner, manifesting as a woman made of shells.