We envision the Shrimp Boat to perform two separate but very related roles: as a platform, vehicle or conduit for artists, writers and musicians to participate in a physical and metaphoric journey through the Gulf of Mexico; and as an active participant in a living landscape and regional economy, a site that is at once embedded with contradictions, turmoil, destruction and potential.
Using the Shrimp Boat as a platform to approach this site connects the project to the landscape and its people. Indeed, we intend to go beyond simply documenting this America; we will be participating and working in this America by working with the landscape as shrimpers under the guidance of a seasoned Shrimp Boat captain. From this, the project is situated between work and culture, it functions on the belief that by being grounded in a place of consequence the artworks to be created will have added relevance as well as improved access to a diverse range of issues.