Gap (Indonesia, Bali)

In Balinese cosmology, the sea is the domain of the Buta Kala , invisible forces associated with disorder, disease, or impurity. These entities are traditionally appeased with offerings , particularly during Melasti ceremonies, where locals descend to the ocean to purify temples and their own spirits.

Observing the coast from the sea, through a porthole , is like crossing a threshold: the one that separates the orderly human world from the sacred realm of unstable forces . The circle framing the scene recalls the eyes of traditional Balinese boats (jukung), believed to ward off evil spirits.

This way of seeing reflects a cultural reversal of the gaze , where what is familiar from the land becomes, seen from the sea, loaded with symbolic ambiguities and invisible tensions .