Kuri Bush, south of Ōtepoti / Dunedin — field research site
copyright ©2026 jocelyn janon
To the always talking sea is a project in development which, if selected will be presented at Cumulus 2026 in Dunedin, November 2026.
The project is in two parts:
Developmental paper: To the always talking sea by Jocelyn.
X-Session, ie workshop: Where seaweeds speak by Jocelyn + Movement Artist.
DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH PROJECT · 2026
photography . language . performance
A title drawn from James K. Baxter's poem “At Kuri Bush”, exploring how coastal environments can act as partners in shaping relational design and performance practices.
Kuri Bush, south of Ōtepoti / Dunedin — field research site
SOURCE TEXT
The title of this project is drawn from the closing lines of James K. Baxter's 1966 poem At Kuri Bush, a poem about memory, belonging, and the pull of a particular place.
The "always talking sea" names something essential to this research: a coastline that is never silent, never finished, never read the same way twice.
At Kuri Bush, south of Dunedin, this partnership with place becomes visible through the continual arrival of seaweed carried by tides.
Each beaching is different.
Each specimen is a sign.
FIELD RESEARCH - SEAWEED PHOTOGRAPHY AT KURI BUSH
Early findings suggest that working with natural places unsettles extractive habits of looking and opens space for design approaches grounded in reciprocity, humility, and ecological literacy.
Across iwi narratives, seaweed is understood as a message from Tangaroa; in Japan, it is described as umi no tegami, letters from the sea.
Both perspectives recognise seaweed as part of a living communication network, expressing the ocean's movements, moods, and ecological conditions.
ASEMI-NEREID - THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM
Asemi-Nereid combines asemic (without sign) with Nereids (sea nymphs from Greek mythology) , a "Sea-Nymph's Wordless Script."
It is a nature-based linguistic system conceptualised by me and developed with AI to structure a language using seaweed specimens from the To the always talking sea photographic series.
The system categorises beached specimens as graphemes, functional units of a non-linear script, designed for performance rather than conventional speech.
It bridges botanical morphology and semiotic theory, offering movement artists a method to express the fluid, transient identities of the marine environment through gestural-auditory performance.
SIGNS - GRAPHEME DRAWINGS (INK ON PAPER)
Grapheme
The smallest functional unit of the Asemi-Nereid writing system, each seaweed specimen as a communicative unit.
Gestural-auditory expression
This language lives in the body.
Practitioners trace seaweed forms with their hands, arms, and whole body while creating soundscapes.
Asemic writing
The foundation: visual marks that appear linguistic but carry no fixed verbal meaning. Each dried seaweed specimen becomes a grapheme a functional unit in a script that invites individual projection and emotional response.
Interdisciplinary bridge
Asemi-Nereid connects natural sciences with artistic practice, offering movement artists a framework to engage with environmental themes, identity, and the transient beauty of marine ecosystems.
Asemi-Nereid cannot be spoken in the traditional sense of human speech. It is a language of Gestural Performance accompanied by a specific auditory soundscape.
WHERE SEAWEEDS SPEAK - PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP
[Temporary title]
The workshop Where Seaweeds Speak (Cumulus X-session), invites movement artists and attendees to perform Asemi-Nereid using gestural tracing and vocalised environmental textures to embody and perform marine forms.
Asemi-Nereid cannot be spoken in the traditional sense: it is a language of gestural performance accompanied by a specific auditory soundscape.
Gestural tracing
Use hands, arms, and the entire body to trace the complex paths of each glyph. Slow, fluid traces indicate memory and reflection; jagged, tense traces indicate conflict and urgency. Think of your body as a brush painting in three-dimensional space.
Glottal stops
Sharp, percussive vocal breaks represent boundaries between distinct thoughts or the sudden snap of a dried stalk. These stops punctuate the performance, creating moments of clarity within the fluid movement.
Sound tracing — sibilant shifts
Create rushing 'sh', 's', and 'z' sounds that mimic the friction of dried kelp against sand or the hiss of waves retreating over pebbles. These sounds indicate flow or transition between gestures.
Teaching progression
Visual literacy → identification of morphological categories → two-dimensional tracing → full-body embodiment → vocalisation → composition of multi-grapheme sequences.
REFERENCE & INSPIRATION
Baxter, J. K. (2023). James K. Baxter: The selected poems (J. E. Weir, Ed.). Te Herenga Waka University Press; Cold Hub Press.
Michaux, H. Tate Gallery. tate.org.uk
Asemics Magazine. asemics.com
Touchon, C. Asemic writing. ceciltouchon.com
Practice-based research
Marine semiotics
Relational design
Asemic writing
de Hamel, Michael, James K. Baxter (c.1965-1972).
Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 29/03/2026,
https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/53393
At Kuri Bush
James K. Baxter, 1966.
A few days back I climbed the mound
Where the farmhouse had stood,
As green as any that the Maoris made
Along that coast. The fog was blowing
Through gates and up gullies
Hiding even the stems of cocksfoot grass
That had sprung up in place of
The sitting-room table and the small brass
Kerosene lamp my mother lighted
Every night, whose white wick would burn
Without changing colour. Somebody must have
Used the old brushwood fence for kindling
Twenty years ago. Outside it
My father stood when I was three or less,
Holding me up to look at
The gigantic rotating wheel of the stars
Whose time isn't ours. The mound yielded
No bones, no coins, but only
A chip of the fallen chimney
I put in the pocket of a damp coat
Before I bumbled back down to the road
With soaking trousers. That splinter of slate
Rubbed by keys and cloth like an amulet
Would hold me back if I tried to leave this island
For the streets of London or New York.
I hope one day they'll plant me in
The kind of hole they dig for horses
Under a hilltop cabbage tree
Not too far from the river that goes
Southwards to the always talking sea.
AI USE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
I write a lot. In my own journals, for the pleasure of writing, and as a way to reflect on my thoughts and creative process.
Artificial intelligence tools were employed solely for linguistic refinement purposes, specifically, to assist with grammar correction and to enhance clarity of expression in English, which is my third language.
The use of such tools was limited to improving communicative precision and does not extend to the generation, development, or substantiation of ideas, arguments, analyses, or any intellectual content presented herein.
All original thought, reasoning, and creative contributions remain entirely my own.
AI assistance served exclusively as a language support mechanism, consistent with the ethical use of technological aids in academic writing.