This book was written and photographed in 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns in Brighton, UK.

This research seeks to develop new insights into oceans, wellbeing and climate change discourses. In particular, the study aims to shift focus from design solutionism to design kinship. It seeks to engage communities, human and non-human, to open new narratives and new ways of knowing with the aim of identifying ways of 'living with' oceans in more supportive and mutually beneficial ways.

During recent lockdowns we have seen coastal communities around the UK moving from their screens to the outdoors, seeking a connection with the seas, mostly for physical and mental health reasons.

The research was held during and just after the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, engaging with the local community in coastal Sussex and reflecting in an autoethnographic manner through photography, interviews and video making. During it, a photographic book and a documentary were produced.

The topics vary from embodiment, feminism, oceans and climate change communications, more precisely, this research examines how embodied experiences with the sea may help facilitate a transition from the human-centred 'anthropocentrism' that dominates mainstream sustainability discourses towards the more complex species-centred values of the 'ecocene'.

Echo of the Abyss is a Virtual Reality (VR) experience that uses animal guides and immersive environments to cultivate a sense of kinship towards marine life. It emphasises the impact of design elements in creating a feeling of interconnectedness and in challenging mainstream perceptions of the deep sea, such as feelings of alienness and fear. Our approach offers design strategies aimed at increasing a feeling of safety and reflecting on the human and more-than-human bodies' relations in the environment.

Publications
Diving into the Abyss: Exploring Deep Sea Connection and Curiosity through Virtual Reality.
Echo of the Abyss: Understanding More-than-human Interconnectedness in the Deep Sea Through Virtual Reality Experiences.

Creative direction and research: Beatrice Maggipinto
Prototype design: Yanick Trindade
Advisors: Jessica Hammer, Valentina Nisi, Nuno Nunes

A series of images of wild swimmers taken over the years, mostly in the UK.

A series of reflections on freediving through annotated photography.

Publication
Staying with the Underwater Trouble: Exploring the Hydrocommons through Freediving.

Abstract
In recent years, Posthuman HCI research has started

exploring noticing as a method for design research

that shifts focus away from anthropocentric views

to embrace more entangled ecological perspectives.

Through an autoethnographic freediving practice

incorporating underwater photography and

microphenomenological reflection, we notice

how freediving can reshape our perceptions of

and connections to the ocean. In this pictorial, we

present freediving as a method for transcorporeal

interconnectedness, which, through breathwork

and sensory immersion, fosters a deeper

understanding of more-than-human interactions,

ultimately reflecting on designing for ecological

awareness.