Helen Peña
Blue Longing

December 6th - December 22, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 6th, 7-10pm

BLUE LONGING, an installation by Helen Peña, opens December 6th.

“My coastal limbs carrying shells and seaweeds the full ocean in my mouth, oh I longed, longed for the deepest suicidal blue waters, I craved the seas, where what was on earth could not scar me.” – Dionne Brand, Ossuaries

In BLUE LONGING, two star-crossed queer lovers escape apocalypse and maroon in the bottom of the ocean. An amorphous becoming and unbecoming takes place as they meet each other in its opaque depths. 

What does it mean to live and love within a culture of death inside the imperial core? What kind of unity is possible in the shadows of the submarine? As fascism rises, so does the sea level, making our earth unbreathable and unlivable for the many. A womb, a galaxy, and the bottom of the ocean all offer a glimpse of possibility.

Inspired by the works of Caribbean anticolonial poets, Dionne Brand and Kamau Brathwaite,  BLUE LONGING is a cinematic ritual space that invites us to meditate on the contradictions of escape, fugitivity and return, considering what kind of love is possible through it all. 

Installation by Helen Peña 
Starring Dawn Harris @dawnixtt & Kili Ku’uwehilani @kilidakid
Exhibition produced by @level.ground
Special thanks to @ye.tunde @samanthacurley for making this possible!
Flyer by @birds_of_paradigm

Helen Peña is a Dominican-American child of the Atlantic, filmmaker, and cultural programmer from Miami, FL. They create socially and politically engaged cinematic rituals centered around memory, mysticism and water bodies.