2023 Leagues Under the Sea in the second in a series of digital colleges exploring and developing my vision of what The Metaverse (as a place to inhabit) means to me. I am a worldbuilder and storyteller, and these works enable me to envision the possibilities for its appearance, which heretofore has existed only in my imagination. Through the process of creation, a three dimensional world takes shape,emerging out of a wholly individual personal perspective which then becomes visible to others, when presented in digital form.

In the first project, I discovered that for me, The Metaverse exists in the ether, formless and invisible in the space Between Dimensions. In this project, I embark an undersea voyage seeking to expand and build upon that vision.

On my journey, I discovered that the leagues under the sea are one of the least explored expanses on Earth. There are no acres to build upon, no air to breathe. There is only soundlessness and frigid darkness in depths that are lacking in highways and byways, where predators glide freely in multiple directions, appearing silently out of the cold blackness in front of your face like weightless ghosts.

There is an enormous sensation of a lack of control over one's environment and one's circumstances. How similar this feeling is to the one I've been having in response to the destruction and havoc wrought upon the space in the past several months. How similar the feeling of drowning.

And yet, in the feeling of drowning, there is treasure to be found. Venturing into the depths changes you. And, unlike the world beneath the seas, and most importantly, The Metaverse is built on the foundation of an ethos that cannot be buried by either the incoming tides nor the shifting sands.

Featuring a bunch of punks (and a seasick pepe) by cryptoartists Eric Rhodes @ericprhodes, Brandon Walsh @NFTWannabe, acid star @acidstarart and janestik.wtf @janestik