Artist Statement

"Messages from the Marsh" is a work in progress for an immersive experience featuring video projections, sound art, and mapping. The project showcases marsh locations along the US East Coast that are projected to be underwater on a daily basis by 2050 due to sea level rise, tides, and storm surge. Videos highlight the unique otherworldly beauty of these locations, both above and below the waterline, with environmental elements playing a significant role in co-producing the videos.

This segment highlights restored salt marshes in Massachusetts that are beginning to recover after centuries of agricultural ditching and other human interventions. By documenting these sites in transition, I explore the fragile and ever-shifting boundary between land and sea while offering a vision of ecological resilience. The work examines both the consequences of environmental degradation and the possibilities for healing through restoration efforts designed to help marsh ecosystems adapt to a changing climate.

Supported by research, the fuller project aims to raise awareness about the potential impact of coastal marsh loss on the ecosystem. It emphasizes the importance of marshes as transitional barrier spaces, rich migratory habitats, and carbon capture systems. Additionally, it focuses on preservation, restoration, and management efforts. The work involves sitespecific research, video documentation, and in-person engagement. Videos shown reflect on immersion of spaces inhabited, spaces transformed, and spaces potentially lost. The water’s skin, the separation of the realms of water and air, are explored through underwater and over water imaging with a GoPro and camera drone. Each piece works in relationship with each other to suggest a fuller, interconnected and dynamic rhythm with resonant impact across their spaces.

Funded in part by the Kathleen Van Demark Fund for Great Marsh Artists, overseen by the Manship Artists Residency with support from Artists for the Great Marsh.

Enormous thanks and research acknowledgments: Climate Central, Mass Audubon, North and South Rivers Watershed Association, The Trustees of Reservations, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Essex County Greenbelt Association.

Thanks to Kenneth Hinegardner, Björn Lütjens, and Peter Van Demark for production assistance and guidance.

Great Marsh locations for this part of the project: Allyn Cox Reservation (Essex), Crane Beach Salt Marsh (Ipswich), Greenwood Farm (Ipswich), Ipswich Salt Marsh (Ipswich), Nelson Island, Rowley Marshes (Rowley), Old Town Hill Reservation (Newbury), Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (Newbury and Newburyport), Plum Island Reserve (Newbury and Newburyport), Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary (Rowley), Strawberry Hill (Ipswich)

Artist Bio

Video artist Amy Kaczur has exhibited her work globally, focusing on environmental issues and community. She has lived and worked extensively in Boston, Cambridge, Long Beach, and Los Angeles. She has participated in residency programs in California, Colorado, and New York.

Along with her art practice, Kaczur works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a group administrator for three research labs focusing on air and water pollution, climate change modeling, and clean energy development and storage. She continuously develops her art practice, supported by relentless research, discovery by experiment, and the pleasure of inquisitive searching. Kaczur holds an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and a BFA from Tufts University.