This site explores the dissonances between “exotic,” beautiful images and their sociopolitical context. A friend of mine was conducting marine biology research in Palau and had taken countless objectively stunning photos of marine creatures. At the same time however, legislation was advancing to open the national marine sanctuary to oil exploration and commercial fishing.

Reflecting this tension between the desire to photographically capture marine beauty while these ecosystems faced imminent threat, I created an "archive" of my friend's photos that resisted "capture," swimming away whenever a user tried to click on and view them. Scattered between these elusive photographs are abstract questions I wrote exploring the role of photographic documentation and exoticizing fantasy. Clicking on these questions leads the user into a short essay my friend and I co-wrote describing the political context, along with links to petitions for action.