Abstract

This thesis contributes to the debate on the interactions between art, science, and phenomenological experience, whilst offering new possibilities for investigation in this interdisciplinary field. The research investigated thresholds of the aquatic horizon; the outline in the distance where sky and water appear to coalesce. Artistic practice and critical discourse challenged and interrogated the intersection between analogue and digital, still and moving technologies, revealing aspects of the physical and conceptual horizons within and beyond the visible light spectrum. A range of theoretical concepts reconfigured my readings and interpretations of the phases of experience, through liminality and phenomenology. This provided a framework to articulate the connections between the lived experience of being in, on, under and above the water. Further contextualisation was achieved through reflections on other artists’ work, focussing on the interplay between bodies of water and thresholds of the horizon. Site-responsive enquiry during a diverse range of artist residencies was employed at chosen locations including the Lizard, Cornwall and the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic constraints, research evolved through a regular and focused swimming practice in a local freshwater stretch of the River Dart. A more embodied approach was developed through and with bodies of water at crucial tidal and planetary cycles of the year during a sustained study above and below the horizon on the South Devon Coast. The fieldwork culminated with an international art and science residency on Tall Ship Antigua in the Svalbard Archipelago.The thesis contributes to the interdisciplinary arts field through experimental artists’ moving image, expanded notions of photography and microscopic imaging of water collected from the proximity of the river to the near and distant oceans. Underpinning this practice, daily recorded digital notes of meteorological and light conditions, transcribed into a physical Diary Of Light, referred to and referenced throughout the thesis, added context to the phenomenological experiences encountered. The research demonstrates how creative inquiry can deepen comprehension of complex and changing configurations and readings of the horizon, revealing links between human perception, the natural world, and aquatic thresholds.

Awarding Institution(s)

University of Plymouth

Supervisor

Kayla Parker, Liz Wells, Heidi Morstang

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2025

Deposit Date

July 2025

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