10 Chancery Lane Gallery is pleased to present We Are The Sea, a solo exhibition by Filipino artist Josephine Turalba, curated by Caroline Ha Thuc. Drawing inspiration from Pacific thinker Epeli Hauʻofa’s powerful declaration—“We are the sea, we are the ocean”—Turalba invites audiences to shift perspective: from land-bound isolation to an expansive, oceanic worldview in which no island stands alone and all beings are interconnected.
For over a decade, Turalba has developed a distinctive practice of assemblage, merging leather, bullet casings, shoe soles, embroidery, and found materials into dense textile works. In her compositions, traditional craftsmanship meets contemporary debris while myth collides with technology: bullet casings transform into slippers or pets, shoe soles morph into manta rays or satellites, mermaids drift alongside submarine sonars, and octopuses blur into drones. Through this fluid visual language, Turalba reveals a world where marine life, folklore, militarization, and digital networks coexist—entangled in both harmony and conflict.
Featured is Drifting Threads and Topographies, a series created during the artist’s residency in Japan and exhibited at the Nakanojo Biennale. For the first time, Turalba works with pina silk— an indigenous Filipino fabric woven from pineapple fiber and silk cocoon. Ten vertical panels suspend viewers in an immersive underwater environment. Embroidered lines coil and uncoil like tides; coral reefs and hydrothermal vents rise toward the surface; boats hover as alien silhouettes above. By destabilizing scale and perspective, Turalba decentres the human gaze, encouraging us to imagine the world in its depth—beneath the surface, among marine species. In this exhibition at 10 Chancery Lane, ten hanging panels, varying in length from 2.5 to 6.4 metres, are suspended above a mirrored floor, as if above the sea. Viewers are invited to walk among the works and engage with their translucence, like swimming through the branches of underwater life.
In a newly created video animation for the exhibition, Re:clamation (2026), Turalba brings together Philippine, Japanese, and Hong Kong mythologies in a shared aquatic space. A young Badjao boy, trapped in a ghost net, is rescued by an oarfish while a sea goddess safeguards his fragile stilt home. The soundtrack was recorded in Hong Kong. In the end, a rain of sand falls from above, alluding to the territory’s reclaimed lands. Myth and political reality intertwine in a narrative of vulnerability and transformation.
The exhibition also addresses militarization and environmental crisis. In Strait Lines (2026), viewers encounter the Detroit of Hormuz from a fish’s perspective: oil barrels sink, dolphins are caught in propellers, and the seabed—rich in coveted resources—becomes a militarized terrain. The thickness of perforated and stitched leather echoes the intensity and gravity of our troubled times.
Yet We Are The Sea is ultimately a testament to resilience. A diver since the age of twelve, Turalba shares a profound bond with marine life. While her works acknowledge pollution, mutation, and conflict, they also celebrate vitality and adaptation. In Re:clamation, the boy’s ear transforms into a gill, allowing him to breathe underwater—a strong metaphor for the possibility of change.
Through vibrant color, mythmaking, and intricate material narratives, Josephine Turalba calls for a reimagining of our place in the world. The ocean is not a border but a continuous body of water, connecting continents, species, and histories. In embracing this oceanic perspective, We Are The Sea urges us to invent new stories—stories that move beyond anthropocentrism and toward kinship, care, and collective responsibility.
Josephine Turalba states, “The imbalance of power and the abuse of authority intrigue and provoke me. The tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where nations stake relentless claims on shoals and fragile ecosystems, challenge us to perceive them as raw and vulnerable rather than as possessions to be controlled and occupied.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Josephine Turalba (Born in 1965 in Manila, Philippines) is a Manila-based transdisciplinary artist whose work explores issues of divide and convergence within a volatile geopolitical world order. Her nomadic relation to various forms of media, including performance, installation, experimental video, tapestry, photography, and painting, allows her to delve into her obsessions with sociopolitical narratives, myths, and personal histories. Addressing power struggles over contested waters, she reframes these conflicts through leather and bullet shell tapestries, using a hydro-feminist lens.
Turalba is a highly accomplished artist and academic. She has showcased her work at prestigious events and institutions worldwide, including the London Biennale, Cairo Biennale, and Venice Biennale. She has served in various leadership roles, including as Director of Arts-Based Research at the Philippine Women's University and as a Research Fellow at the MIT Future Heritage Lab and Program for Arts, Culture, and Technology. Turalba holds a Master's degree in
Research from Sint-Lucas Antwerpen, KdG Belgium, as well as an MFA in New Media from the Transart Institute, validated by Donau Universität Krems, Austria.
ABOUT THE CURATOR
Dr. Caroline Ha Thuc is an independent Hong Kong based art historian, researcher and curator. Specialized in Asian contemporary art, Ha Thuc’s field of research focuses on research-based art practices and the emergence of alternative modes of knowledge production. She contributes to different magazines such as ArtPress in France and Artomity in Hong Kong and is a lecturer at Lingnan University where she is teaching curating practices and ecocriticism. As a curator, she focuses on promoting dialogue between artists from different cultures, while reflecting on social, ecological and political contemporary issues. Her book ’The Ocean Manifesto,’ commissioned by the French Agency for Development was published by JBE Books for the UN Conference on the Ocean in June 2025. It features artists from across the world whose practices address the issues of marine ecosystems and question our collective representation of the ocean.
Dr. Caroline Ha Thuc is an independent Hong Kong based art historian, researcher and curator. Specialized in Asian contemporary art, Ha Thuc’s field of research focuses on research-based art practices and the emergence of alternative modes of knowledge production. She contributes to different magazines such as ArtPress in France and Artomity in Hong Kong and is a lecturer at Lingnan University where she is teaching curating practices and ecocriticism. As a curator, she focuses on promoting dialogue between artists from different cultures, while reflecting on social, ecological and political contemporary issues. Her book ’The Ocean Manifesto,’ commissioned by the French Agency for Development was published by JBE Books for the UN Conference on the Ocean in June 2025. It features artists from across the world whose practices address the issues of marine ecosystems and question our collective representation of the ocean.
ABOUT 10 CHANCERY LANE GALLERY
Established in 2001, when Hong Kong’s art scene was burgeoning, Katie de Tilly started 10 Chancery Lane Gallery. Along the back wall of the, then running, Victoria Prison, now the buzzing Tai Kwun Heritage and Cultural site, the little walking lane opened into a gallery specializing in contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific. Over the past 25 years, 10 Chancery Lane has worked with some of the region’s great artists, curators, and museums.
Established in 2001, when Hong Kong’s art scene was burgeoning, Katie de Tilly started 10 Chancery Lane Gallery. Along the back wall of the, then running, Victoria Prison, now the buzzing Tai Kwun Heritage and Cultural site, the little walking lane opened into a gallery specializing in contemporary art from the Asia-Pacific. Over the past 25 years, 10 Chancery Lane has worked with some of the region’s great artists, curators, and museums.
* The exhibition has been planned to coincide with World Ocean’s Day, a yearly event that 10 Chancery Lane Gallery supports by offering funds for Oceanic Global and a curated exhibition around the theme of the Oceans. UNESCO celebrates World Oceans Day annually, reinforcing the importance of protecting the largest ecosystem on the planet. Oceanic Global was founded by a local Hong Kong woman, Lea d’Auriol, who inspires us to care deeply for the ocean and provide solutions to protect it. Read more: https://oceanic.global/
** Women Artists’ Art Week World WAAW welcomes cultural spaces from around the globe that share this commitment and wish to participate in our annual Impact Week (8–15 June). During this week, participating venues exclusively showcase female artists within their spaces. By presenting women artists simultaneously worldwide, we aim to create a unified and powerful global movement that advances the visibility of female artists.
