Jayne Sandys-Renton - painter
Statement.
this work originally stemmed from looking at video footage given to me by scientist lis maclaren (serpent project). I repeatedly observed film of under-water landscape taken by a rov.
the rov is a vehicle that acts as the arms, legs and eyes of the pilot and scientist, and by using rov footage myself it becomes an extension of my own eyes and arms. in my work the rov becomes a human presence in the deep, uninhabitable, sea.
some footage had been taken to assess impact caused by oil rigs on areas previously undisturbed. pipelines became a focus in the work, a metaphor for human presence.
tania smith, a scientist researching the sexual chemistry in the deep sea, offered me sediment collected from the sea bed of the crozet archipelago. I have incorporated this into the work. i enjoy the fact it has been collected from the depths of the indian ocean and is now part of a painting resulting from this unusual collaboration.
