Ecological Empathy and Oysters Divination

The disembodied choir of echoing voices of Sonic Faza3a – a sound installation by Palestinian collective Sakiya – resonates in a light-blue room in Inverleith House at Edinburgh Royal Botanic Gardens. A pod sheltered by a seaweed-looking green curtain stands in the middle of the room as the setting of Oyster Readings, a performance developed by Turner Prize nominees Cooking Sections.

Oysters, among their many qualities, hold in their shell a physical memory of the environmental conditions in which they grew, mapping the passage of time and climatic changes. In the performance, oysters are consulted as repositories of wisdom about the past and the future of our earth, as well as whomever is open to listen to their stories.

This, as with the other installations that form In the Eddy of the Stream, shows Cooking Sections’ and Sakiya’s interest in reclaiming indigenous knowledge about Scottish and Palestinian land, its usage, and its people. This knowledge is endangered by intertwining stories of ecological and colonial oppressions.

Hector, my spiritual and scientific guide in the world of oysters, emerges from behind the seaweed curtain. Their controlled movement and soft voice communicate a religious awe as they welcome me to a table made of oysters’ shells. Three oysters in a bucket of ice set in the table, and a sharp knife, set the premise for the ritual I am about to witness. The melancholic soundtrack of Sonic Faza3a reaches us within the green pod and contributes to the aura of mysticism of Hector’s actions as they sing to the oysters, announcing: ‘We need to sing to the oysters, or they won’t sing back to us.’ With solemn gestures Hector asks me to choose among the three oysters lined up on the uneven hills of this specially designed table. I touch, smell, and look at each one of them to finally choose my oyster. They announce that they will tell me the story of this oyster: a story which is also about me.

Hector combines oysters’ scientific properties with fortune-telling symbolism, underscoring In the Eddy of the Stream’s recurrent interest in opposing contrasting systems of knowledge-making. Positivist knowledge meets a long tradition of folk wisdom in divination as accurate scientific explanations about the environmental factors that shaped the appearance of my oyster are charged with symbolic meanings that Hector links to my history, past and future. A savvy clairvoyant, Hector reads in my oyster a story about migration – the pain of leaving behind a sheltered community, yet the ability to navigate new waters. It has been a long time since an artwork moved me so deeply. Sitting in front of a stranger handing me an oyster, tears begin to stream down my face as Hector states that my pathway is leading me exactly where I am supposed to be.

Over the performance, I come to understand Hector’s initial prophetic words as I create a strong bond with my oyster. Its story blurs into mine, its origin, past and future is mine and vice versa. Through this bond I can understand the concept of ecological empathy – humans’ ability to develop an eco-centric mindset led by the sincere sympathy we can feel for nature and its creatures.

To my shock after the softness of their voice and gestures, Hector wields the knife, cuts open the oyster and offers it to me to eat it.

I freeze.

Because of the bond previously created with the oyster, eating it feels like a form of emotional and physical cannibalism. I would be eating myself, my past and future. I hesitate. But it feels appropriate to conclude this ritual with a sacrifice: my own, that of my past, to finalise this union becoming one with the oyster. I understand what I must do to see the whole picture – I eat the oyster. Its taste unlocks a long-lost memory of a seashore I call home. I weep.

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Cooking Sections & Sakiya: In The Eddy of the Stream continues at Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, until 18 Sep

This piece was commissioned as part of Edinburgh Art Festival's Emerging Writers programme; scroll on to read more from writers in the programme