Behind the Eyes: Ryenn’s October column
In a new column by Ryenn, discover a written ode to creativity across a spectrum of mediums, united by a single theme. This month, it’s all about water.
Hi. Hello. Welcome. It’s me. Ryenn. I’m here. Writing to you from London (on this occasion). Fingertips poised over keys, gazing out at the river. It’s hard not to be mesmerised by the endless rain.
I started writing this with the intent to lift the veil on my new column. To show you what I’ve been up to. The places I’ve been, the music I’ve listened to, all the creative inspiration I’ve found. A kind of diary, opening its pages to you month by month. But then I started thinking. Maybe this space could be more. Do more. Why only use words as a mirror, offering fleeting glimpses – sensations – of the things around me? What does that really contribute – what does it say?
So. I’m taking a different direction. No rules. No clichés. A collection of scattered thoughts. Maybe even some ideas. A spark of discourse to fan into a conversation. A celebration of creative inspiration. In other words, this will be a space where I invite you to see the world as I do. From behind my eyes.
Watching the raindrops trickle down the window, it feels like a sign. Let’s explore water.
Into the deep
At its essence, water is difficult to define. A shapeshifter with limitless potential. Taking the forms of rain, river, ocean, mist, snow, ice. And beyond. Encompassing both a gentle wave and a colossal storm. In other words, an age-old mystery. As D.H. Lawrence said in his Pansies poetry collection, “Water is H20, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one – but there is also a third thing that makes it water, and nobody knows what that is”.
The art
Look to the world of art and you’ll find centuries of artists fascinated by water. Think of the goddess of love, riding the waves on her shell in Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. The ill-fated Ophelia singing as she drowns in John Everett Millais’ river. Or one of my favourites, A Bigger Splash, by David Hockney – a seductive vision of summer.
More recently, I’ve been inspired by the flowing, dreamlike women submerged in Isabel Emrich’s Expressionistic paintings, reflecting the very personal connection the artist forged to water growing up in Southern California. Zheng Lu’s gravity-defying, stainless-steel sculptures tracing forms of water in motion. Also, Susan Hiller’s atmospheric Rough Seas series, breathing new life into historic tourist postcards showing scenes of crashing waves along UK shores.
The looks
Fluid fabrics. Sealife motifs. Iridescent finishes. Fashion has channelled the medium of water in so many ways – and nowhere is this more evident than on the runway. Think Saint Laurent models walking on a liquid runway, or Hussein Chalayan dissolving soluble dresses under rainfall showers.
Perhaps the most famous of all runway interpretations was Plato’s Atlantis, showcasing Alexander McQueen’s game-changing Spring/Summer 2010 collection. It was Lee McQueen’s last show before his untimely death in February 2010. It was a dazzling vision of an apocalyptic future. One where humanity, having destroyed dry land, returns to the ocean. Ready to don shimmering scaled dresses. Digital jellyfish prints. Fluid porthole detailing. Towering heels resembling sea monster armour. A beguiling kaleidoscope of aqua and blue. I think about this show often.
The films
Isn’t it interesting. So many famous H20-influenced films focus on the dangers to be found within the deep. You don’t need me to point out the obvious ones. Personally, I’m more drawn to the films offering something a little different. More intriguing. Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, in which a lonely janitor falls in love with a mysterious amphibious creature, springs to mind. International cinema lovers, look to Croatian filmmaker Antonela Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina, a provocative coming-of-age narrative set on the shores of the Adriatic. Or Still the Water, a beautiful subtropical meditation on life and death directed by Naomi Kawase.
https://youtu.be/XFYWazblaUA?si=hK6J4iBZtaNWj803
https://youtu.be/GHFvQ3Vp1cc?si=0mJXF5LNRtg12cX-
The icons
The historic Japanese tradition of ama (‘sea women’) has always fascinated me. Their story goes back 2,000 years. Dressed all in white with a headscarf patterned in protective symbols, these hardy female free divers would take to the waves, sharks and all, in search of precious pearls to be found on the ocean floor. A handful of ama still dive for treasure today.
The sounds
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YPOVLEsYcsLQdJaOUF4ta?si=4mnIYkDuT7yLyobFZRrVcQ
The book
For me, it has to be Our Wives Under the Sea, by Julia Amfield. Something really special. A novel on love, loss, grief, and the terrifying unknowability of the ocean. It alternates between the perspectives of Miri and Leah. Leah has recently returned from a disastrous deep-sea voyage – but as her wife Miri soon discovers, she is not the woman that she once was. A horror-tinged love story from the fathoms.
Till next time,
Ryenn x