ROWSE Does the ocean know the sea exists?

This film launches a very special collaboration between myself and ROWSE. I’ve found that most of my personal work is kind of like drawing lines in the sand that will bring me closer me to the people I love and admire. With Nuria Val, ROWSE‘s creative director, who I’ve been friends with for years, this line was clear – how do our worlds connect? The Atlantic and the Mediterranean are so similar yet so different. It’s beautiful how its not an obvious connection – there’s a certain tension, two extremely different characters. Where do they meet? This eventually brought up the question – Does the ocean know the sea exists?

“Take something as vast as the ocean and look at it really closely – identify the beautifully ephemeral and unique nature of every single wave, every drop of water in unceasing motion. In our own uniqueness, do we really understand how connected we are to the rest the universe? Are we ever present enough to really take this in? Does the ocean know the sea exists?

Through this question, that mirrors Pablo Curto and Nuria Val’s connection with the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, we seek to build a bridge that generates a conversation about community and connection with nature – there’s something magical under every stone, grain of sand, in the clouds and in the wind. It’s precisely Pablo and Nuria’s devotion to nature, present throughout all their work, that brought them together to collaborate after years of friendship on this project, developed closely with Sample.

Nature’s resilience is a source of reflection specially in a time of urgency and immediacy. We hope that portraying the unspeakable beauty and mystery of our planet highlights the importance of respecting the world we live in.”

The project continues with a series of photographs of oceanscapes in Fuerteventura, portraying the unique character of the waves there, where I spent a big part of my childhood. There’s something magical about them – like they hold the universe within them, drops forming constellations, every single one unique in its own way.

These photographs of the Atlantic will eventually be taken to the Mediterranean and projected over the sea in an offline installation, finally connecting my world and Nuria’s. In this moment of communion between the Ocean and the Sea, both bodies of water will finally meet in the projection’s reflection on the Sea’s surface. There, we’ll find our answer: Does the ocean know the sea exists?

Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse
Pablo Curto Rowse

Written and directed by Pablo Curto 
Produced by Sample 
Executive Producer Mayca Márquez  & Edu Lozano 
ROWSE Creative Director Nuria Val
Producer Gema Ruiz
Fixer María Sanz Esteve     
Director of Photography Nauzet Gaspar 
Focus Puller Hector Quintero
Light assistant Alejandro Rofera 
Stylist Paula Delgado 
Make up & Hair Yadro Ochoa
Casting director La Santa 
Model Uma Vethakkan at BLOW
Postproduction coordinator Marisa Mesonero 
Postproduction Daniel Sanchez Herrera 
Grading Nadia Khairat 
Music & Sound Design Luis Ortega 
Title credits Javier Unknos
PA Idoya Perello
PA Mateo Berupe

Special thanks Helena Fradera, Conrado López, Tessa Doniga, Jeremy Taffin