Arts Thread

The Antipodes is a physical manifestation of my childhood emotions about the Totorore wreckage in 1999. How art combined with biography can be used to explore how we process and humanise traumatic events. Around the 12th June, 1999, my uncle and a family friend prepared to conduct routine conservation on the Antipodes Islands. After arriving, they were lost from radio contact. It is believed that during the night, a gale-force wind hit the Totorore anchored in South Bay, and she was wrecked with both on board. After the news reached my father, he set up his own yacht to sail to the Antipodean Islands to search for the Totorore. He received a call from a woman he had never met before, who offered her help. That woman would become my mother. Upon arrival, they found only a few broken pieces of wood. Even though my mother ventured into the sub-Antarctic waters to look for any sign of the missing men, nothing was found. Since I was born, I was raised with the memory around me, and the knowledge that this one island represents so much of what my family is–without them, I would not exist. Recollection in both formal and informal contexts is commonly used to describe people's lived experiences. Design and art can help enable viewers to form empathetic connections to people far from our own experiences. Design can help translate events and trauma to audiences and communicate the emotions more tangibly. It may also give the author a voice and free them from the burden of preserving a memory or oral history. I hope that art will make more family stories from diverse backgrounds more accessible and that people will find connection and greater empathy for one another, especially through technology's reach. Full novel can be viewed here: https://antipodessale.com/grad-project/