WE LOST THE SEA - DEPARTURE SONGS COMPLETE ARTWORK

concept / design / illustration / ANIMATION / CREATIVE DIRECTION

We Lost The Sea, are a Sydney based cinematic instrumental post-rock band. Our latest record ‘Departure Songs’ is inspired by failed, yet epic and honourable journeys or events throughout history where people have done extraordinary things for the greater good of those around them, and the progress of the human race itself. Each song has it’s own story and is a soundtrack to that story. The songs are a celebration of lives lived and lost.

Starting with the outer spread of the vinyl artwork, I created a piece of art for each song based on it’s theme and ultimately a complete set that relates to each other and the overall theme that amalgamates at the end with a montage of them all. Each piece has it’s own layered meanings and disguised imagery that is up to the viewer to explore. I wanted to capture the scope of these stories by creating epic landscapes that sometimes feel lonely and quiet, yet visceral and full of movement.

a gallant gentleman

In 1911 a British team led by Robert Falcon Scott attempted to be the first humans to reach the South Pole, the most southerly point on Earth. They arrived only to find another team had beat them to it. The defeated team then began the 895 mile journey back to their base. 
Their outlook was bleak.

The return journey was full of extreme weather, the men suffered injuries and endured frostbite. They lost the first of their party when Edgar Evans fell to his death down an icy crevice. Slowed by blizzards and the frightening Antarctic terrain, the men were running dangerously low on provisions, Captain Lawrence Oates, an Ex English Military Officer, was suffering worst of all, and knew that his horrific gangrene brought on by frostbite was slowing everyone else down. He pleaded with the others to be left behind – they refused.

The following night, 16 March 1912, Oats got up in the tent, left his boots where they were, turned to his colleagues and said “I am just going outside and may be some time”, hoping to save their lives he walked out of the tent into the freezing night.

Remembered now for his courageous actions even when faced with death, Lawrence Oates’ honorable legacy lives on.

He will always be known as a very gallant gentleman.

BOGATYRI

Amidst the clean up of the infamous Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in April of 1986, the authorities discovered that the nuclear reactor was flooded with highly radioactive water. The steam from this volatile water was threatening to cause a massive explosion that would carry radioactive material and gas across a large portion of Europe, they needed to open the floodgates to release the pressure in the chamber and save a large part of Europe from nuclear fallout.

To drain the reactor someone would have to dive into the water and open the release valve by hand.; for anyone involved it meant a certain and painful death.

Three men volunteered, now unofficially known as the suicide squad, they didn’t ask for glory or riches, simply that once they passed their families would
be looked after. And so three ordinary men, Valeri Bezpalov, Alexie Ananenko and Boris Baranov did an extraordinary thing, and dove into the depths of
the reactor.

After the only lamp they had with them fell into the darkness, the three men felt their way towards the gate, and completed their grim mission by opening
the valve.

Ten days later all three were buried in lead coffins.

Ukrainian Folklore tells the story of the Bogatyri, three valiant knights of old.

The Last Dive of David Shaw

Throughout history fewer than 10 people have been known to dive to a depth of 250m, more people have walked on the moon;
David Shaw was one of these men.

Boesmansgat is a freshwater cave buried high in the mountains of South Africa, it is revered and feared by many. During a world recording breaking dive, David Shaw discovered the body of a man, Deon Dreyer, who had been lost 10 years earlier. He abandoned his dive and returned to the surface, with one goal in mind, bringing Deon’s body home for his family.
 
Surrounded by the international diving community, and a lot of press, David dove down into what is known as the dead zone, knowing that this dive may be his last. After reaching the body David became tangled in his dive lines, struggling to surface with Deon’s body in tow, David’s body finally gave into the depths, and he slipped in into the eternal blackness.
 
While attempting to recover dive equipment 4 days later the remaining crew unexpectedly pulled David’s body to the surface, and attached to him was the body of Deon Dreyer. He had accomplished what he set out to do, and paid the ultimate price.
 
Shaw’s wife later said of her husband's death, “He was like a bird. You put him, a bird, in a cage or you let it fly free. If you put him in a cage, he is never really happy. Having him fly free was always a risk. There was always the chance he wouldn't come back."

CHALLENGER PART 1 - FLIGHT

On a cold Florida morning in January 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 Seconds into its flight, burning up almost 2 million litres of fuel in a few seconds and killing all 7 people on board, 6 astronauts and one civilian, a school teacher, Christa McAuliffe.

The haunting images of Challenger's destruction and its capsules slow plummet back to earth on live television and in front of stunned onlookers, has been played and viewed over and over again throughout the years past. These images have had a profound affect on many people all over the world.

The Challenger disaster shows man's resolve to explore the great unknown, the never ending search for a greater understanding of who we are both personally and as a race. It shows our own resolve to be better, and that we are all trapped on this tiny speck of dust in an infinite universe. It’s also a beautiful and tragic reminder of who we’ve lost along the way, of those who burnt too fast and too brightly, and whose light was extinguished far too soon.  

CHALLENGER PART 2 - A SWAN SONG

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
"Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God.

High Flight
By John Gillespie Magee, Jr.