By Sea tells the story of a fictional seaside apartment building. The architecture of the complex forms the words Par Mer, written in a bold, italic typeface. Most filming takes place inside an architectural model built out of cast salt.
"Sonya Lacey’s By Sea literally uses language sculpted into an architectural form to create a remarkable dreamlike monochrome landscape. The film was shot inside a cast salt model of the letters that form Par Mer. Her voice-over follows an abstract narrative, whispered as a disembodied floating camera slides along mirrored surfaces. Referencing the inside/outside dichotomy repeated through much of (Joanna) Paul’s work, Lacey appropriates field notes from NASA’s Tektite, semi-autonomous underwater lab experiments to emphasis this either/or division of space. The film is interspersed with microscopic filming of salt crystals, pans of cracks, layered salt textures, and projected textural images. Lacey hints to the precariousness of living in a bubble, and the permeability that exists between intimate interiors, and the emotional breaches that can occur."
