Working in his studio one afternoon, Arvilla could see a violent storm over Botany Bay (Sydney). Black clouds gathered over the bay, torrents of rain fell, thunder cracked overhead and hail pelted the roof of his studio building.

Cocooned inside, Arvilla found that the sound of the storm had a ruminative effect, bringing back memories of the past and focusing his thoughts on the ways histories can resonance in place. Listening to the rain, Arvilla remembered the rain forest near his hometown in Costa Rica and the many storms experienced at sea when he worked on cruise ships; but he also envisaged the history of Botany Bay ― the arrival of Captain Cook’s weathered crew in 1770 and the lives of the first nations people irrevocably changed in their wake of destruction.

Arvilla paints the storm and all its associations throughout the Ocean series as contemplations on the echoes of place.