Sea Kin
2026
Sea Kin
Our family extends beyond the shoreline.
Sea Kin reimagines kinship, exploring our deep connections to the marine life of Sydney Harbour. This exhibition brings together art and science communication, fostering empathy and care for local ecosystems, asking us to recognise our relationships with the other species such as seahorses, crayfish, penguins, and seagrasses.
Working with children from Drummoyne and Glebe Public Schools in workshops, artists Jennifer Turpin and Sophie Raymond created portraits of children embodying iconic harbour species. Combining scientific and creative enquiry, the workshops allowed the children to engage with the materials of their chosen creature’s habitat and deepen their understanding of the fragile ecosystems of Sydney Harbour and the challenges faced by our underwater kin.
Eight photographic portraits of participating children are framed in ornate seaweed and displayed in a salon-style hang. Each portrait is paired with an imaginative audio story, scripted and voiced by the children themselves and heard by listening through a large seashell – giving voice to our marine neighbours and inviting visitors into a kinship built on attention and care.
- location
- Sydney Harbour Gallery, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney
- material
- Ornate seaweed frames: Bull kelp (Durvillea potatorum), recycled plastic sub-frames. Listening shell: 3D printed shells made from recycled plastic Headdresses: Feathers, cuttlefish, shells, alpaca wool, knobby club rush grass, sponge, swimming goggles, postcards, barnacles, limpets, oyster and scallop shells, seaweed (Ecklonia radiata), reconstituted Ulva sp.84 seaweed.
- client
- NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
- collaborators
Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), Drummoyne Public School, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australian National Maritime Museum
- team
Artists: Jennifer Turpin, Sophie Raymond, Jade Oakley, Eve Erickson, Ruby Matthews
Photographer: Ian Hobbs
Curatorial Consultant: Christiane Keys Statham
Project Consultant: Clare Sawyer
Sound Production Team: Sophie Raymond, Amy Valent Curlis, Cristian Velenzuela, Genevieve Lacey, Jim Atkins
Story Shell Design and Fabrication: Orlando Hayes
Specialist Seaweed Material Supplier: Dr Pia Winberg, Phyco Health
Specialist Support Frame Design: Defy Design
Structural Advice: Event Engineering
Underwater Photographic Imagery: Stefan Andrews
Workshop Facilitators: Clare Sawyer, Jen Mather, Julie Trell
Scientists: Professor Adriana Verges, Dr Francisco Martinez-Baena, Tia Bool, Tom Burd, Dr Ben Pitcher, Kate Akkerman, Professor David Booth, Professor Melanie Bishop, Associate Professor Mariana Mayer Pinto, PhD Candidate Will Knoke
Teachers at Drummoyne Public School: Orla Page, Prudence Goh
Students of Drummoyne and Glebe Public Schools: Zoe Fazah (East Australian Current), Lachlan Sangster (White’s Seahorse), Piper Moore (Posidonia australis - seagrass), Vivienne Duquemin (Sydney Rock Oyster), Russell Bockos (Ecklonia radiata - Golden Kelp), Adem Dizdar (New Zealand Fur Seal), Charlotte Scanlan (Yellowfin Bream), Phoebe Connolly Raymond (Little Penguin), Alice Tolliday, Ryan Elalingam, Alishia Li, Frenchie Thompson, Pia Passarelli, Maya Lee, Georges Haikal, Katy Elliot, Aodhon Perkins, Clair Linquist, James Worden, Jonathan Pringle, William Anderson
- photo and video credits
Ian Hobbs, Tom Burd
