Poster 10: Ode to Hope 
This short journey tracing the links between Europe and Latin America from the perspective of our relationship to the sea starts with the scientific study so decisively advanced by Charles Darwin. It draws our attention to the fact that the same name – here of the famous Peruvian anchoveta – conjures up many different ways of knowing and experience. It takes us to the frontier of marine sciences today and the efforts to make the science more readily accessible to everybody and to create a level playing field for all through public repositories of knowledge which are readily accessible in many languages and through many ways of questioning.
We look for new syntheses between sciences and artistic expression to appeal to a wider range of human perceptions and needs. This is also a way to engage with young people and encourage them to engage for sustainable seas.
We could not have concluded this journey without a homage to the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda who had a house by the sea and wrote this poem 'Ode to hope'. The critical enquiry and deep humanistic expression of these two great spirits can be beacons for our own search for a new relationship with the sea and the people of our two continents.
The poem is reproduced here with thanks courtesy of the Pablo Neruda Foundation.
Ode to Hope
Oceanic dawn
at the centre
of my life.
Waves like grapes,
the sky's solitude,
you fill me
and flood me
the entire sea,
the entire sky,
movement
and space,
the white battalions
of sea foam,
the orange-coloured earth,
the sun's
fiery waist
in agony,
so many
gifts and talents,
birds
soaring into their dreams,
and the sea, the sea,
suspended
aroma,
chorus of resonant salt,
and meanwhile,
we,
men,
together with the water,
struggling and hoping,
together with the sea
hoping.
And the waves tell the firm coast;
"Everything will be fulfilled"
Pablo Neruda
This poster exhibition was created as part of the international collaboration between scientists, artists and schools enabled through the Mundus maris Initiative. Most of the additional information contained in the companion guide to the exhibition is reproduced next to each poster.
For more information look at other parts of this website or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
For financial support of the work with schools for sustainable seas and cultural diversity, transfer your financial contribution to the Belfius Bank account of Mundus maris - IBAN: BE54 0688 9178 6297 - BIC/SWIFT: GKCCBEBB
Credits:
Rachel Atanacio, graphic design of posters;
Deng Palomares, scientific advice;
Claudia Wosnitza and Jaime Mendo, regional advice and photos;
Cornelia E. Nauen, concept.