Umi An engaged work of art

Umi An engaged work of art: since his early days, northern artist Xhenon has actively supported La Dolphin Connection through a unique artistic approach, combining sound creation with a commitment to protecting dolphins. Its composition, Umi—Japanese for “ocean”—is fully in line with this desire to raise awareness, offering an aesthetic experience that invites us to perceive a very real reality in a different way.

A context that inspires engagement

Every year between September and March, the small coastal town of Taiji, Japan, becomes the scene of organized dolphin hunts. Some animals are captured alive and sold to marine parks around the world, while others are slaughtered.

These practices were brought to the attention of the general public thanks to the work of activists such as Ric O’Barry and organizations such as Sea Shepherd. They were also widely documented in the Oscar-winning film The Cove, which helped raise international awareness.

While some dolphinariums are gradually closing in Europe, others are developing elsewhere, particularly in China, where demand for animal shows remains high. Many dolphins kept in captivity come from these captures.

Umi An engaged work of art : art as a sensitive and symbolic language

Faced with this reality, Xhenon has chosen a particular artistic path: that of electronic surrealism.
Rather than showing violence head-on, he offers a sensory and symbolic transposition.

In Umi’s music video, the images do not document—they suggest. The forms, sound textures, and visual atmospheres construct a universe with multiple levels of interpretation. For the uninitiated viewer, the work presents itself as an immersive, almost contemplative aesthetic experience. For those familiar with the context, the connections gradually emerge, like silent echoes of an invisible reality.

This artistic approach is based on a strong conviction: sensitivity can sometimes raise awareness more powerfully than direct confrontation. Abstraction then becomes a space for reflection, where emotion paves the way for understanding.

A work between engagement and universality

Through Umi, Xhenon also reminds us of the importance of avoiding cultural stigmatization. While the events in Taiji are now well documented, other forms of dolphin mortality exist elsewhere in the world. So-called accidental catches occur every year in the Bay of Biscay, macabre rituals take place in the Faroe Islands, and culls are also reported in the Solomon Islands.

Umi An engaged work of art : a second life for a socially conscious creation

After several years of discretion, Umi is now reborn with a new symbolic meaning. This rebroadcast marks the desire to continue raising awareness through forms of expression that appeal to both emotion and reflection.
A loyal partner of La Dolphin Connection, Xhenon illustrates through this work the capacity of art to become a space for memory, transmission, and commitment.