Leclair Bisson’s current work examines the ecological ramifications of climate change and resource extraction on algae-based ecosystems. Her methodological approach integrates underwater videography, ethnographically informed documentary practices, and the use of visual empirical data to observe how algae respond to environmental stressors.

The artwork brings into dialogue two concurrent transformations within oceanic systems: the accelerating ecological and climatic pressures affecting natural kelp forest ecosystems, and the rapid global expansion of the cultivated seaweed industry. Together, these trajectories reveal intersecting dynamics of vulnerability, extraction, and adaptation across marine environments.

The installation is composed of two facing underwater video projections. One presents footage of kelp forests from the North American Pacific coast (Nereocystis luetkeana); the other depicts cultivated sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera) from a small-scale farming site on the Vietnamese coast, linking the East Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. The footage was recorded in the winter of 2025 and will be assembled into a two-channel installation. The installation stages a conversation between kelp and sea-grape plants, centered on their everyday existence and on the environmental challenges their respective ecosystems and communities have recently encountered.

Through this work, Leclair Bisson seeks to challenge human-centric perceptions of the underwater world, foregrounding relationality with non-human life, the forms of knowledge embedded within marine ecologies, and the fragile futures of wild seaweed populations.

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Collaboration: Cinematographer Justin Bisson-Beck