Pelagia

Pelagia Is a visual sanctuary dedicated to Mediterranean biodiversity and the profound link between geology, archaeology, and marine life. Blending magical realism with science fiction, the video essay intertwines matriarchal mythologies, geological layering, and aquatic creatures. Its structure is circular, opening and closing with the Sleeping Lady, a prehistoric figurine found in Gozo — symbol of birth, dream, and regeneration. At the center of the narrative is the Pelagia noctiluca jellyfish, observed during diving sessions. Elegant yet fragile, it becomes an emblem of resilience, marine fertility, and a liquid memory resisting extinction. The work draws from the sedimentary geology of Gozo, with visual inspiration taken from fossil-rich landscapes near the Salt Pans and Cathedral Cave. It also pays homage to the polylobed structure of Gozo’s Neolithic temples and the sacred figurines found in nearby hypogea, evoking circularity, duality, and the spiral of time. Through a Maltese poetic voice-over, archival echoes, and layered underwater imagery, Pelagia conjures an ancestral yet contemporary Mediterranean — a place where life, death, and memory flow in perpetual motion. Inspired by Ocean Literacy Principles 2, 5, and 6, the work transforms scientific knowledge into a poetic and immersive experience, where myth and matter, sea and self, are intimately interconnected.