Noyes Studio Projects explores themes of grief, memory, and healing through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach. The practice reveals deep connections between human bodies, bodies of water, and all living beings, emphasizing their interdependence. By treating emotion as a foundational material, the studio reframes mourning—not simply as an experience of loss but as a transformative journey toward resilience, empathy, and purposeful action.
What began as a personal inquiry has evolved to address grief within the context of climate catastrophe, examining the profound effects of global warming on our ocean bodies. Here, the ocean serves as a symbolic repository for grief accumulated over millennia. This research has led the studio to investigate the intricate connections between human bodies and other non-human bodies of water, illuminating shared vulnerability and resilience.
Hydrocene Theory represents a curatorial shift in eco-aesthetics, challenging anthropocentric, neo-colonial, and environmentally destructive perspectives that treat water as a commodity. Instead, it redefines our relationship with water by encouraging us to “think as water” rather than merely “about water.” This shift in perspective places human bodies—both physically and emotionally—at the center of climate collapse. Recognizing that we, like the ocean, are water bodies, makes the destruction more tangible and immediate, fostering a deeper connection to the crisis.
Currently we are working on three projects
Dinner for Two Leftovers, the allusion to domestic grief is an allegory for broader cultural grieving over losses experienced by climate change.
"The Booth," a soundproof vintage phone booth is installed in a public location where individuals can do something rarely possible in public spaces: scream. Sounds of water fill the booth immersing participants in an ambient soundtrack that transforms public grief. When the door opens, the sound of water spills into the surrounding space creating a communal experience of one person's passage through a momentary rupture.
“Currents,” inspired by Hydrocene Theory, is a site-specific immersive video installation that brings human bodies and bodies of water into a palpable convergence.
Perhaps these large-scale losses are what the theorist Timothy Morton would call intellectual hyperobjects that need to be considered on a personal scale to become visible—our work attempts to bring viewers across this emotional bridge.
Learn More: http://www.connienoyes.com