Events.

Deep Currents Collective engages communities in dialogue about ocean governance and justice issues arising in the context of extractive industries such as deep seabed mining. We work with grassroots community and civil society advocacy groups, including First Nation groups, universities and cultural institutions and create spaces for amplifying community and youth voices. 

Our Collective Seabed:
Jamaica, July 2025 
Our Collective Seabed:  an exhibition and panel discussion at the Jamaica National Gallery. Presented as an official side event of the ISA Assembly’s 30th Session and co-curated in partnership with the Jamaica National Gallery. Event partners included Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, with funding support from Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.

The event highlighted gaps in socio-ecological and cultural narratives at the ISA, particularly relating to the Caribbean region. Panelists and audience members expressed concern about the lack of access or platforming of diverse, local voices during ISA negotiations and other official side events. 

• Over 70 scholars, artists, activists, scientists and ISA delegates came together for the panel discussion. Panelists included: Alex Moore-Minott, Maroon Myal priest and activist, Kingston-based marine biologist Robyn Young, Prof. and from DCC: Dr Jonathan Galka, Dr  Elizabeth De Loughery, Dr Susan Reid, Mekhala Dave, Dr Giulia Champion, and Alejandro Limpo Gonzalez. In closing the discussion, Senior curator Monique Barnett-Davidson emphasised the importance of cultural heritage and how museums can facilitate such complex discussions as a form of cultural diplomacy.
• Our Collective Seabed’s three-week exhibition was co-curated by the Deep Currents Collective in partnership with the National Gallery' of Jamaica's Chief Curator O’Neil Lawrence and Senior Curator Monique Barnett-Davidson. Caribbean and international artists featured: Nadia Huggins, Albert Huie, Colin Garland, Barrington Watson, Archie Lindo, Emma Critchley, Enar de dios Rodríguez, Patty Chang & David Kelly, Kayla Archer & Ocean Citizens, Jonathan Galka, and Hefrani Barnes. ​​

Hefrani Barnes postcard intervention:
​ISA Assembly’s 30th Session, July 2025 
The Deep Currents Collective collaborated with emerging Fijian artist Hefrani Barnes on a series of postcards for the ISA’s 30th session. Postcards featuring Hefrani’s artwork were stamped on the back with short phrases by DCC members drawing attention to issues associated with deep seabed mining. They were displayed at the entrance of the ISA meeting hall, in the Jamaica Convention Centre and activated discussion with state delegates attending the event. Hefrani’s work amplified concerns about deep seabed mining by animating fantastical marine beings as protectors of the deep-sea realm. 

​Ala Moana: Reimagining Ocean Futures Beyond Extractivism: Samoa December, 2025
A panel and discussion presented at the Pacific History Association's 2025 conference, National University of Samoa. With funding support from the Dean of Humanities/UCLA.

Panelists and papers: Maureen Penjueli, Fiji Activist, Opening remarks; Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Visualizing Cosmologies of the Ocean Deep; Jonathan Galka, A Pacific Prehistory of Blue Growth; Mekhala Dave, Kin-Making in Queer Ocean;  Susan Reid, Multibeing Dynamics as Unreckoned Bycatch; Khadija Stewart and Giulia Champion, Ala Moana: Caribbean Perspectives

Images and credits, top to bottom. DCC members visit the Alligator Head Foundation, Jamaica, 2024. Image credit: Susan Reid; Hefrani Barnes postcards, Audience at the 'Our Collective Seabed' panel discussion (ISA30). Image credit: ISA; Jamaica National Gallery. Image credit: Susan Reid; Hefrani Barnes; Flyer for DCC's Ala Moana panel discussion, Samoa, 2025; DCC Members with Maureen Penjueli in Samoa.