/ PERFORMATIVE ACTION 18.05.2022 on the 1st INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR WOMEN IN MARITIME, LUČICA MATEJUŠKA SPLIT / Launching of 5 boats: “TEUTA”, “SLAVA LUNARDOVA”, “MARY LACY”, “JEANNE BARET”, “ELLEN MACARTHUR” 5 godmothers: Teuta Tomasović, Danka Radić, Tonka Alujević, Lena Lozić, Duška Boban 6 navigators / 122 flags / continuation at the 41st SPLIT SALON in collaboration with HULU Split, Croatian Maritime Museum Split, and Sports Fishing Society Lubin

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After the “launch into history” (into the museum), followed the naming of the boats and the “launch into the future” (sailing out of the harbor). The UN’s International Maritime Organization proclaimed 18.05.2022 as the International Day for Women in Maritime, for the first time in history. On that very day, I carried out a performative launching action of the fleet BRODI/ONA – which I built as a tribute to maritime women who were and are part of maritime history, despite prohibitions and prejudices, such as the well‑known saying that “A WOMAN IS BAD LUCK ON A SHIP.” Although women in maritime today are equal and have the right to education, they still make up less than 2% of employees in the global maritime industry. The performative action was staged in the manner of ceremonial launchings, but aesthetically shaped in the spirit of the message I wished to convey. Along the Matejuška pier, 122 burgundy flags fluttered, each bearing the name and short biography of a maritime heroine from history to the present, pointing to the presence of women in the past and present of the maritime world.

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In the performative launching action, the godmothers – our distinguished “sea women” – asked the sea to accept the names of the boats.

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Godmother Dr. Danka Radić, retired director of the Croatian Maritime Museum Split and author of the scientific work “Trogir’s Traditional Shipbuilding”, at the Launching Ceremony asked the sea to accept the name “SLAVA LUNARDOVA”, after Slava who, together with her father, master caulker Lunardo, co‑owned a shipyard in Trogir as early as the 13th century.

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​Godmother Tonka Alujević, sea writer and adventurer, sailed the seas, crossed the ocean twice, and together with her then partner reached the Sea Festival in Brest, France, in the smallest boat in the world – a guc. She named the boat “MARY LACY” after the first woman who trained as a shipbuilder’s apprentice disguised as a man from 1763, and who passed the master’s exam in 1770 in England, officially licensed to build ships. She built ships her entire career disguised as a man, and even received an official pension. The boat Mary Lacy was sailed by Marijana De Marchi, teacher at the Maritime School in Split, and multimedia artist Marija Golub.

 

​Godmother Lena Lozić, who sailed as third officer on container ships and tankers, later devoted herself to future seafarers as a teacher at the Maritime School in Split, named the boat “JEANNE BARET” after the botanist who, in search of plants, became the first woman to circumnavigate the world (1766–1769). Disguised as a man, she joined her partner Philbert Commerson on the expedition led by French explorer Louis Antoine Bougainville. Jeanne discovered many plants during the voyage of the ship Étoile, among them the most significant, the Bougainvillea from Brazil, which she named after the ship’s commander. The boat was sailed by multimedia artist Tihana Mandušić.

 

Godmother Duška Boban, Split artist who in 2018 with her exhibition and publication “Amorella – Floating City” raised the issue of insufficient valorization of Split’s maritime and shipbuilding heritage, advocating for the founding of a “Sea Museum,” asked the sea to accept the name “ELLEN MACARTHUR” – after the yachtswoman who in 2005 won the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe, and later founded the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to accelerate the transition to a regenerative circular economy. This economic system addresses global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution through reuse, sharing, repair, renewal, and recycling, creating a closed‑loop system that minimizes resource use, waste, pollution, and carbon emissions. The boat was sailed by designer Dunja Sučić.

 

Godmother Teuta Tomasović, a baby whose parents were inspired by the BRODI/ONA intervention at the Croatian Maritime Museum Split (2021) to name her after the powerful Illyrian pirate queen who commanded fleets in the 3rd century BC, asked the sea to also accept the name “TEUTA” for the boat. The boat was sailed by Teuta’s mother, art teacher Ana Pelajić Tomasović.

 

Every civilization has its tradition of naming ships, but most often they were given female names: “She.” Since the beginning of recorded history, humans have built ships for travel and exploration. One of the most enduring maritime traditions is the concept of naming ships. Although it is not known exactly why ships were given female names, and why they were referred to in the feminine gender as “She”, there are two prominent theories. One hypothesis is that ships were named after goddesses and other mythical female figures, later also popular female names, following the idea of the female figure as mother or goddess who guides and protects the ship and crew. The other theory is that in many languages objects are referred to with feminine grammatical gender. As language changed and developed, the tradition of using the feminine form for ship names continued and is still present today.

 

Naming a ship is an important tradition before its inaugural launch. Ceremonies were held to appease the sea, to bring luck and safety to the new ship, its crew, and passengers. The tradition of naming ceremonies goes back thousands of years; different peoples and cultures shaped rituals around ship launchings. Evidence shows that the Babylonians celebrated ship launchings as early as the 3rd millennium BC, while Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians invoked their gods to protect ships before voyages. Continuing this tradition, I name my boats with female names – but not after mythical goddesses, rather after real maritime heroines. Hence the very title of the work BRODI/ONA = meaning “She sails,” “Ship and She,” or “She is the Ship, the Ship is She.”