The Watchful is a series of environmental films created by artists from different global locations that explore the connections between human bodies and bodies of water, particularly the ocean. Coastal landscapes around the world struggle with plastic pollution, weapons testing, agricultural runoff, and other environmental issues that have a devastating impact on ocean life and water. These artistic explorations consider how a sense of embodied connection with our oceans can inspire reflection, care, and enhanced protection for these waterways.

This collection of films is featured in the Toxic Beauty exhibition at the Mississippi Aquarium May 1- September 7, 2026 and at The University of Southern Mississippi Sculpture Gallery June 2026. This project is supported in part by funding from the Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, and in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Late Watch

Dr. Karen Barbour is a Professor in Te Kura Toi School of Arts at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her research focuses on embodied ways of knowing, particularly feminist choreographic practices in dance for theatres, sites, places and digital video performances, as well as in pedagogical movement contexts. Recent work focuses on somatics and place, as well as yoga and wellbeing in transdisciplinary research. Karen is the author of Dancing across the Page: Narrative and Embodied Ways of Knowing (Barbour, 2011) and co-author of (Re)positioning Site Dance: Local Acts, Global Perspectives, (Barbour, Hunter & Kloetzel, 2019). Additionally, she is co-editor of Ethnographic borders and boundaries: Permeability, plasticity and possibilities (Rinehart, Kidd & Barbour, 2021) and Ethnographic worldviews: Transformations and social justice (Rinehart, Barbour & Pope, 2014).  Karen publishes journal articles, book chapters, creates performances and digital dance works, and is editor of Dance Research Aotearoa journal. In 2022 she was a Fulbright New Zealand Senior Scholar Award recipient.

Late Watch

Ngarunui, coastlines hold the land’s memory

Watching for storms,

Wondering who we are willing to be,

Standing in the ruins of the more-than-human world.

Ngarunui, in the liminal moments

The coast redraws itself

Submitting to the south west winds,

Sinking earth, boulders and bones to watery graves.

Ngarunui, tidelines trace the ocean’s reach

Swallowing dunes,

Worrying ancient volcanos,

Reaching into the tombs of shellfish ancestors.

Ngarunui, tidal pools swell and flood

Challenging kin,

Mattering now as the sea rises,

Not someday, not somewhere but here

Waiting for us to hear the lament of the stone.

Karen Barbour, April 2026.

Experiment in hope #1

Performance: Candice Salyers

Music: Peter Jones

Dr. Candice Salyers is a dance artist, Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Southern Mississippi, and Director of the Center for Women & Leadership. Her performance work and dance films have been presented in the US, UK, Estonia, Spain, Morocco, South Korea, Denmark, Brazil, Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Armenia, and the Czech Republic. Her work explores dance practices as humanitarian service and ecological advocacy, proposing that site-specific dance can contribute to unique ways of embodying ethical citizenship. She has enjoyed artist residencies with Acadia National Park (US), Belgrade Art Studio (RS), Green Olive Arts (MA), Moku Art Studio/MANGO Artist Residency (US & AR), and АРТ РЕЗИДЕНЦИЯ (BG). Dr. Salyers has been honored with an Alma Bucovaz Award for Urban Service, Choreographic & Performance Fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and Mississippi Arts Commission, a Conville Endowment Award, and a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Award.

We Will Go with the Tide

Una Janićijević is a Serbian-Canadian artist, designer and mother. Her artistic practice is guided by principles of inclusivity, sustainability and collaboration. Working across publishing, media, arts, and education, Una develops multidisciplinary projects grounded in a tactile, handcrafted approach to visual storytelling. Her artwork has been exhibited in group and solo shows and published internationally. Una has developed grant-supported initiatives focused on artist-parents, arts education, and sustainability. Drawing upon her immigrant experience, she approaches her work with care for both communities and the land she inhabits. For this work, her creative process involved making paper embedded with micro-plastics from the ocean. While the resulting paper proved too fragile for composing the final collage, she continues to experiment with the reuse of plastics in papermaking. The video includes the song “Lament for a Dying Ocean” by Small Island Big Song, with permission of the musicians. This band is a collaboration of artists from across the Pacific & Indian oceans “united over our concerns and love for our island homes.”

Artists:

Putad, indigenous Amis musician from Taiwan

Emlyn of Creole heritage from Mauritius

Sauljaljui of Paiwan heritage from Taiwan

Tim, Australian

LYRICS:

(In Amis)

“Have we all forgotten

the ocean is the birthplace of all life

Mother of all life

It is dying

Who should protect it?

Embrace our mother

‘til forever

Do not forget

No ocean

No life

Protect with full strength”

(In Creole)

“We’re going to cry a river

until it reaches the ocean

Our island is losing its fight

to survive and thrive.”

Helen’s Bay

Suzannah McCreight is Artistic Director of Green Light Dance Company in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Having worked as a dancer, choreographer, rehearsal director, dance teacher and college/university lecturer, Suzannah now shares her expertise and passion for dance through this company that supports the professional development of local dance artists while promoting the appreciation of contemporary dance in the wider community and providing classes to people of all ages and abilities.

fragile

Kelly Pérez is a Colombian-born multidisciplinary artist based in Dallas, Texas. Her practice merges traditional techniques, including oil painting, sculpture, and printmaking, with digital experimentation and interactive processes. She holds dual degrees in Sculpture and Jewelry from the University of North Texas and an Associate’s degree in Graphic Design. She has also explored animation as part of her expanding creative practice. Kelly’s work explores themes of repetition, healing, and consciousness. Grounded in scientific research, her creative process often draws from biology, neuroscience, and environmental science. Through color, sensory engagement, and participatory elements, she creates work that invites emotional connection and reflection. Her evolving artistic voice is grounded in the belief that art can bring people together to feel, reflect, and act.

The Gulf

Brianna Jahn is Associate Professor and Dance Program Coordinator at the University of Southern Mississippi. She earned her M.F.A. in Dance and Certificate in College Teaching from the University of Arizona and her B.F.A. in Dance from SUNY Buffalo. She is a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher trained through the Fletcher Pilates School, of which she is a member of their teacher-training faculty and evaluations team. Jahn has performed/choreographed professionally with Hub Dance Collective, Configuration Dance Theatre, and ConvergeDance Buffalo and has presented choreographic work at the Alabama Dance Festival, COASTdance Fest, Breaking Ground Festival, and for other invited opportunities in the U.S. and Mexico. Her creative research lies in multidisciplinary and collaborative efforts, punctuated by periods of self-examination developing choreographic portraiture. Highlights include “I WANT TO GO” a dance theatre work made in collaboration with Matthew Earnest, “Thinking Like A Mountain” employing Aldo Leopold’s essay in a renewed call for conservation, "I See You" an evening length concert exploring choreographic portraiture, "Self Portrait no. 2" commissioned for the “When There Are Nine” visual artists reception in Canton, MI, and "SLIDE", a collaborative work with visual artist Mary McDonnell.

Orca We Remember

Art Farm LK is a Korean creative classical company co-founded by writer and director Jaechung KIM and composer and music director Jieun LEE. Almost all of their cantatas, operas, and classical albums have been sponsored by Korean government organizations in charge of culture, and have been repeatedly selected as the best works of the year. Every opera production by the duo artists within the last five years has been awarded the prestigious "New Opera of the Year" honor. Their collaborative opera ‘Time Cobweb’(2021), opera “KALEA – BUTALSORO(2024) was selected as the best work in New Opera category by the Korea Arts Council. A total of 26 New classical albums co-produced by two Artist have been released globally. Produced and screened the music films 'The Shrine of Music' and 'Oratorio Martyres'. In total, they have co-authored and published five music score books. Duo artists have been working on the theme of the ocean for many years. The “Classic Artist Initiative climate crisis Album”, which has been planned, created, recorded, and released since 2022, has produced three albums with the theme of “our oceans are DYING”. Over the next 10 years, they plan to create and perform OPERA KALEA, a work that confronts the urgent reality of rising sea levels.