This article printed in Oceanus Winter 2024
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
There’s an invisible soup below the ocean’s surface. It’s not a particularly savory soup. Rather, this salty mélange comprises active currents, eddies, vortices, upwelling and downwelling, all of which help transport vital nutrients across the sea. But unlike goliath ocean gyres, these processes take place at relatively smaller scales (about 10 kilometers [6 miles] across), known by oceanographers as the “submesoscale.”
It’s been the job of scientists like former MIT-WHOI PhD student Jing He to understand how these pathways support life across the ocean, and how they transport important molecules like carbon to the depths. Using artificial intelligence, Jing can comb through large datasets to find patterns and relationships not seen with the naked eye. In doing so, she has untangled individual “threads” from this watery matrix, allowing her to study their significance to local marine ecosystems. In time, her data has revealed a beautiful web of currents, each with a unique density and shape. It was this rarely seen perspective that piqued the interest of Milton, Mass.-based artist Janine Wong, who took on the challenge of visualizing this hidden mixture. In 2023, the two agreed to collaborate under the auspices of a science-to-art program called the Synergy Project.
Wong’s artbook, Submesoscale Soup, is the product of their partnership—visualizing Jing’s unique scientific perspective through a chemistry-intensive technique known as marbling. The following pieces are sampled from this book. In each, Wong uses color to bring to life that which is unseen, with the goal of delivering one salient message: just because we cannot see the beauty below the ocean’s surface doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Marbling turned out to be a natural medium for this project, both for its realism and symbolism. The process consists of suspending ink and paint in a tank of water mixed with carrageenan, a compound derived from seaweed. By carefully agitating the water, Wong simulated different types of currents. The addition of chemicals helped vary surface tension and generated differences in the paint’s flow to mimic the same differences found between ocean currents. Colors and textures were then added to convey a sense of depth and visual hierarchy.
After experimenting with different media, Wong and He decided to frame their work inside an artbook. By relating He’s work to modern cookbooks, Wong provides viewers with a familiar way to comprehend how a complex system—a patch of ocean—is the result of many different ingredients mixed and stirred, heated and cooled.
“Submesoscale Soup” first appeared as a Synergy Project—exhibitions and events meant to illuminate collaboration between art and science. The Synergy Project is a creation of Art League Rhode Island, in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.
Explore more artwork by Janine Wong by visiting her website at janinewong.com.
