Ocean Virtual Art Residency
The Ocean Virtual Art Residency program, in collaboration with MANGO, empowers artists to embark on a journey of developing new projects centered around the residency's thematic focus: OCEAN. This residency aims to provide dedicated time and space for artists interested in ocean science, whether emerging or established, and to cultivate a collaborative community where like-minded artists can connect and create together.
The OVAR residency creates a welcoming, empowering, and challenging virtual space for artists. Over 5 weeks, participants met weekly to discuss ideas, critique concepts, and share resources and knowledge, fostering mutual support and project enhancement.
We are thrilled to showcase the projects developed by each artist during the residency. Through the power of art and the brilliance of these artists, prepare to be transported, inspired, and spurred to ignite your passion for our Ocean and their future.
Why a map?
We intentionally chose to present the participating artists using a map format. This decision was driven by our desire to visually highlight the global interconnectedness symbolized by our oceans. By mapping the artists, we aim to emphasize how, regardless of location, we all share a deep love and concern for our planet's waters. This spatial representation underscores our planet's interconnectedness and the collective efforts of artists to draw inspiration from the ocean and, through their work, inspire others.
Ocean Virtual Art Residency has been endorsed as an Ocean Decade activity. This means that our virtual exhibition will be shared on the Ocean Decade Network, allowing the wonderful work created by the artists to reach a wider audience.
Ocean VI Virtual Exhibition
We recommend viewing the map on a desktop. If you would like to see the map bigger, just click on the top right square. Every artist is placed on the map with a colored marker. When you click on the marker, you will see a window to the left of your screen with the name of the artist, their piece, the artist’s statement about their work, and a link to their website. Please click on the images so you can see the full image or video. If the artist has several pieces in the exhibition, you can scroll through them using the arrows.
Please use this FORM to give feedback and your thoughts to the artists.
Participating Artists
I am Fran (VANTAØ), photographer, astrologist and coach.
VANTAØ is my way of naming what I see in the age of constant contact: intimacy becoming digital, bodies becoming profiles, presence becoming a luminous trace. I work with photography as a quiet instrument: minimal gestures, controlled light, and frames that leave room for the unsaid.
The Ø is the gap I refuse to close. It marks the incomplete circle: the part of connection that stays unresolved, the part that can’t be optimized. I photograph that gap with clarity and restraint, so the mystery doesn’t come from confusion—it comes from precision.
My work explores digital intimacy as a fragile physiology: presence becomes signal, touch becomes delay, and emotion leaves a luminous residue. Stripping the frame until what remains can breathe, the work of subtraction renders not just the person, but moments of a relationship: static, tenderness, and small distortions.
The origin was simple. I kept noticing that the most “connected” moments were also the most unstable: a face freezing mid-sentence, a message arriving late, a silence that suddenly had weight. I began treating those glitches as evidence, not mistakes. Each series is a controlled experiment in closeness: light measured like a pulse, shadow held like a secret, the image hovering between confession and architecture. I don’t document certainty, but instead the part of us that keeps reaching reaching away
Willa Sacharow is a writer and interdisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Her work explores the layered realities of human connection to the ocean, from the tangible to the metaphysical, delving into the sea’s power to awaken awe, hold emotion, and transform grief. She draws on the unique qualities of water which alter sound, refract light, and transmit magnetism, as she develops projects that blur the line between the ethereal and the mundane. Storytelling grows from her experiences as a tidal wanderer and diver finding inspiration in the Pacific Ocean.
With a BA in Philosophy and a background in Arts Administration, she is now the Director of Cave for the Fish, an emergent creative endeavor. This interdisciplinary storytelling project depicts a fable of spiritual reconnection between a child artist living beneath the sea and her counterpart, a pearl diver living on a barren island. Set against a luminous oceanic backdrop, the story follows the evolution of their friendship which spans the border between the land and the sea, the real and surreal, and dreams and reality. Initially starting with text and imagery, the project is now expanding into new mediums including sculpture and sound as it enters its next stage of collaboration.
Michael Darby
Michael is a digital illustrator and mixed media artist based in San Diego, California. Much of his work explores the relationship between humans and the environment through surreal historical and science driven imagery. By combining images of wildlife and manmade objects, he creates scenes that blur the boundaries between reality and imagination while examining themes of conservation, exploitation, and coexistence.
His artistic practice is heavily influenced by years working at sea in a variety of academic and professional roles, in addition to being an avid freediver and angler. These experiences provide both the visual inspiration and ecological foundation for his work, allowing him to translate scientific and lived experiences into compelling visual narratives.
Through his art, Michael aims to inspire curiosity, reflection, and a deeper appreciation for the natural world, encouraging viewers to consider their personal connection to and responsibility for our planet.
Sué Resilien
Sué (pronounced ‘Sway’) seeks to find and explore invisible worlds. Pulled by many cultures, he exists somewhere between Haitian and a Black American identity, a religious upbringing, and the expectations attached to them. Formally a Software Developer, he draws inspiration from Virgil Abloh and Suzanne Césaire to question what we believe, utilizing technology as a medium to explore wonder and the spiritual.
Leila Hernandez
Leila Hernandez is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work explores themes of migration, transformation, memory, and environmental stewardship. Working across mixed media, textiles, assemblage, and found objects, she creates richly layered compositions that transform discarded materials into narratives of resilience and connection. Drawing inspiration from treasures discovered in thrift stores, flea markets, and everyday life, Hernandez embraces an aesthetic of abundance, incorporating symbolic elements that bridge personal, cultural, and ecological stories. Her recent work has focused on ocean conservation and the lives of humpback whales, combining research, storytelling, and luminous materials to celebrate the beauty of the natural world and encourage reflection on our shared responsibility to protect it.