New Beginnings.
I gaze out into the horizon pensively, leaving all things terrestrial behind me. The silence in the air broken only by the sound of the water splashing against my boat. It’s largely calm and I seem to be going nowhere or in no particular direction. Yet the water seems to be undulating without a break, seemingly moving me forward in some direction. I lose sense of time and space because I see nothing but the vast ocean ahead of me. I am filled with a sense of fearful amazement for the colossal mass of water moving below me. It is exhilarating and at the same time, fear-inspiring.
My brain tries to make sense of this dreamy illusion, the hypnotic effect of the ocean is throwing me off. It’s a new moon and la marée is approaching.
La Marée is French for the tide.
There is a remarkable force that moves the waters of our planet, an energy so powerful that it is able to shift entire bodies of ocean tirelessly and effortlessly causing high tides and low tides. We learned it is the work of the moon.
Tides have been the subject of scientific, astronomical and mystical inquiry far older than time itself. Storytellers made sense of it before science could even have a go. They have inspired mythology and created folklore. Rituals have formed around tides. Tribal lives in the coastal regions of Mauritius are dictated by the tides.
That the rising and falling of the tidal waves affect our deepest emotions is a pervasive idea and is intricately woven into the strands of our poetry and literature and much of my present state of mind.
Tides have inspired artists in the voyage of cultural evolution. It has had an undeniable influence on much of the prevalent work regarding the human psyche. Creatives have battled creativity in ebbs and flows with each phase of the moon. As emotional beings, we spend a lot of our lives trying to predict these ups and downs so that we may conquer them. Yet the irony of it is that the only thing predictable about la marée is its unpredictability. The only constant about la marée is the certainty of the lows after the highs and the sure return of the highs. Isn’t that really the beauty of it? Of life itself?
La Marée is the synthesis of highs and lows, of ups and downs, and of the knowledge and acknowledgment of this factual attribute of life itself. We want to be ready to ride the waves, upon the rise of the tides but also prepared to face the lows when they come, for they will come. Shall we not then choose to merely anticipate it?
La Marée is a culmination of a stage in my personal growth, an acceptance of my creative work process. It is a manifestation of my gratitude towards nature and its generosity, for offering to forever remain my creative muse.
I begin to cherish the moments I don’t create at all. But I remain composed in anticipation and contemplation. For creativity comes in tides, there are moments when it lies still, and we have only to remain calm and await the turn of the high tide. Today is a new moon.
Shop the New Beginnings collection here
Many thanks to:
Photography: Karen Pang
Production: Deborah Jubeau
Styling and garments: Eder the Label
Make-up and hair: Jo-ann Regnard
Light assistant: Radjiv Dave