Come Over
Come Over consists of two light installations, one on Stokkøya and one on Linesøya, which illuminate periodically based on local people’s memory of the original ferry timetable that once served the two islands. This work preserves and archives local history and memory, connecting present-day spaces of interaction with the journeys that once linked the islands. In doing so, the work reflects on how movement, timing, and rhythm shape community life. After hearing stories at Coop about the time before the bridge, we were inspired by the lengths people went to in order to stay connected. We heard of late-night journeys home, of rowing across the sea after infamous parties where lasting relationships were formed. Thoughts of coexistence led us to an interest in
knock-on effects, impacts, chains, sequences, signals, and receivers - how stuff gets around.
This connection does not linger in the past. Just as those parties once brought people together, there are still inclusive social hubs on the islands. Come Over unites two of parallel locations - Coop and Rorbua Café og Pub - reminding us that community continues to thrive in moments of chance encounter and shared conversation. Importantly, they are libraries of knowledge, generous places of sharing, storytelling and laughter, demonstrating how social spaces evolve yet remain vital to collective well-being.
Light is closely intertwined with life here. Light both enables, requires and carries connection: it can travel, it can be a signal and it can guide to safety. With dark winters and bright summers, local routines and livelihoods are directly shaped by light. A binding force - both natural and human - that shapes ecological cycles, local practices and social ties.
Once belonging to old boats, the lights themselves bear their own stories of efforts, passage, travel and transfer. Newly revived, and operating to a schedule of a time gone by, they ask what it means to lie dormant only to later be reignited. The lights will go off at 7 am, 11:30am, 5pm, 9pm, for 25 minutes at a time. These are the times locals recited from their memories of the ferry times that stood out and the duration of the journey between each port.
Fittingly, this project has been made possible by a connection of people. A network of support. Favours, generosity, sharing time, the passing on of telephone numbers, the giving of directions, the borrowing of equipment, and many many more. The project not only considers connection in its form but has been made entirely possible by the web of connections it relied upon.
Come Over is an artwork by Tom Freestone, Mareiwa Miller and Emma Ogawa Todd.
During the Opening of Come Over, we ran boat trips from Coop, Stokkøya to Rorbua Café og Pub Linesøya, where visitors could see both light installations on the neighbouring islands.
Rituals of Care
Cardboard, Reclaimed wood, Charcoal, Flour, 2022, 549 x 274 cm
Rituals of Care explores interconnectedness inspired by Shintoist philosophy, focusing on 'kami' - divine spirits believed to be present in humans, nature, and the divine. The figures in the artwork wear Shinto attire and are surrounded by 'shides,' offerings to the Gods before Mount Fuji.
Motherland exhibition shots and curitorial text at Central Saint Martins, Kings Cross, 2022