Alexis Vasilikos: Oceanic

Alexis Vasilikos' series recalls summer time, warmth of sand and chill of the ocean breeze. But it seems so only at first glance. Multiple exposures and subtle “special effects” against oceanic background, unsettling human figures altogether give a feeling of the other dimension present in the series. It turns out to be a story of spirit, floating in the ocean, searching for Moby-Dick, reaching out to connect to the eternal. The sensation that was described by Romain Rolland as «oceanic feeling». By this he was referring to a subjective experience familiar to him throughout his whole life: “entirely independent of all dogma, of all Credos, of all organization of the church, of every holy book, of all hope for a personal survival, etc., the simple and direct fact of the sensation of the ‘eternal’ (which perhaps is not eternal, but simply without perceptible limits, and like an ocean).”

“Oceanic” is a work in progress that revolves around the experience of oneness. The phrase "oceanic feeling" was coined by Romain Rolland to refer to the sensation of being one with the universe. According to Rolland, this feeling
is the source of all the religious energy that permeates in various religious systems, and one may justifiably call oneself religious on the basis of this oceanic feeling alone, even if one renounces every belief and every illusion.

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