The Sea of Emotions/ Volume 72

There are few elements as universally symbolic—and emotionally resonant—as the sea. Since the dawn of visual culture, artists have turned to water to express what words alone cannot. The sea reflects us: its stillness, our peace; its turbulence, our grief; its tides, our longing; its depths, our hidden truths. It is both a literal and metaphorical space—a force that connects, carries, destroys, and heals.

In this special 72nd volume of our publication, The Sea of Emotions, we dive into the rich waters where art and emotion meet. This edition is not simply about depicting the sea—it is about engaging with it as an emotional entity, a character in our shared human story. Through paint, thread, film, sound, sculpture, and debris, the artists featured in these pages offer a collective meditation on the relationship between feeling and fluidity, between the state of the planet and the state of the self.

Many of the works featured in this volume are made from reclaimed materials: driftwood, rope, seaweed, plastic, rusted metal, worn clothing. These materials speak not only to the state of the oceans, but to our emotional need to mend and reimagine what has been broken. There is power in re-use, in the gesture of turning waste into meaning.

And yet, this edition is not solely about crisis. It is also about the awe of standing before the sea and feeling humbled. It’s about the salt that stings and the silence that soothes. It’s about beginnings, endings, and everything in between. Just as the sea is never one thing, neither are the emotions that pour through these works. From rage to reverence, from despair to wonder, our artists ask: What does it mean to feel deeply in a time of deep uncertainty? How do we hold on to empathy when so much is in flux?

We invite you to read this issue like a shoreline—meandering, reflective, rich with fragments. Drift from work to work, from artist to artist, letting the currents carry you. Look closely at the marks made by hands, by tides, by time. Notice the tension between beauty and discomfort, between presence and erosion.

Most of all, let yourself feel. Let the waves rise.

Because art, like the sea, has the power to overwhelm and to heal—to remind us that we are, all of us, fluid beings, shaped by the storms we weather and the depths we dare to explore.