Petroc Sesti

HEART OF OKEANOS

Borrowing its name from the Greek god of the oceans, Heart of Okeanos is sculpture inspired by ‘Out of the Depths: The Blue Whale Story’, a ground breaking exhibition at Canada’s Royal Ontario Museum.

In 2014 the body of a blue whale washed ashore in Rocky Harbour, having tragically perished after being trapped in ice. Lead by Mammalogy Technician, Jacqueline Miller the discovery prompted a team of scientists from the museum to remove the huge mammals heart and meticulously preserve the specimen over the following 3 years.

This artefact has long been the source of inspiration for Sesti who has dreamed of one day returning the heart back to the to the ocean. Allowing it to once again exist below the water and reside in its natural environment, by giving life again to the oceans and writing a poetic narrative to complete the story.

In partnership with Ximena Caminos and The ReefLine, the Heart of Okeanos will be brought back to life by becoming a living coral reef teeming with biodiversity. Sesti will work with The ReefLine Marine Biologist Shelby Thomas who will be seeding the sculpture with living corals as part of The ReefLine’s vision of enhancing marine habitats where a reef once existed.

Drawing inspiration from Roman Paleozoic cement and marine organisms like coral that capture carbon to create their structures. Sesti has been developing a carbon sink sculpture medium called CarbonXinc, a revolutionary material that combines eco-friendly concrete and carbon capture crystals to permanently store captured CO2 in rock form, a 1st for the art world.

THE REEFLINE - MIAMI BEACH

The following pages contain artists impressions of the sculpture submerged underwater as part of The ReefLine

installations that are to take place in 2023. Working closely with Marine Biologist Shelby Thomas, Heart of Okeanos will be

brought back to life by becoming a living coral reef teeming with biodiversity. Seeding the sculpture with living corals as

part of The ReefLine’s vision of enhancing marine habitats where a reef once existed.

More information about the the The ReefLine installation program as well as plans to build a version of the project within

the Metaverse can be found here:

https://www.thereefline.org/installations - https://www.thereefline.org/metaverse