March 15 – April 27, 2025
Ocean Imprint: Recording Octopus and Fish Through Gyotaku
Point of View Gallery / Metchosin Arts and Cultural Center
March 15 – April 26, 2025
Dyan Marie’s Octopus images explore the intersection of biological documentation and movement through Gyotaku, a traditional Japanese fish printing technique. By printing directly from the body of an octopus, her work captures its textures and shifting forms. The twisting, fluid motions recorded in ink merge the boundaries between representation and abstraction, mirroring the octopus’s ability to transform. With nine brains, blue blood, and the capacity to alter color, texture, and shape, octopuses are only beginning to be fully understood as complex, intelligent beings.
Her Fish series extends this practice to the broader marine ecosystem. Working with fish remains from local fishers at Cheanuh Marina on Sci’anew First Nation lands, where she resides in Spirit Bay, Marie trades small drawings for discarded fish heads and tails. This region, known for its five species of salmon and large halibut, holds a long history of fishing traditions, with oral accounts recalling halibut once much larger. Her work is a gesture to honour these species while documenting their presence and engaging with the lived histories and environmental shifts shaping local fishing practices.
Gyotaku is an intimate, tactile process that requires direct engagement with the subject. Handling each specimen, preparing its form, applying sumi ink, and pressing washi paper onto its surface creates a sensory connection beyond visual observation. Originally developed by Japanese fishers to record their catches, Gyotaku has evolved into a widely practiced art form that integrates scientific observation and artistic expression. Marie’s prints serve as both a record and a tribute, preserving the form of each creature while acknowledging the complex relationships between marine life, human interaction, and ecological realities.