We hold our breath to enter the world that gives us ours.

Every night, the largest migration on Earth begins in darkness. Billions of small creatures rise from the deep towards the surface to feed, and sink again before dawn. Many of them glow. It happens every night, everywhere, and almost no one has ever seen it.

Why this matters to you

This world is closer to us than we think. The ocean makes much of the air we breathe, and each night these creatures help carry carbon down into the deep. Their journey is tied to our breath.

Yet most of us were taught to fear the deep, the dark, the unknown. I want to show the deep as I know it: not frightening, but full of wonder.

Why a freediver

Divers with tanks bring torches, noise and bubbles. They watch from outside. A freediver goes down on one breath, quietly. Down there, the noise stops. You feel calm, clear and strangely at home. Before we ever took a breath, we lived in water.

The creatures rise to stay alive. We go down to feel alive. In the dark, we cross.

Why a glowing suit

To see the unseen, you turn off the light. Deep-sea creatures talk in light: to find each other, to hide, to warn. My suit glows like them. On that breath, I stop watching the deep from outside, and belong in it.

Why art

Facts alone rarely move us. Feelings do. We look after what we feel connected to. So we lead with wonder: first you feel it, then you want to understand it, then you want to protect it.

The photographs and the film of the dive will become a fine art exhibition at Villa Mare in Zurich in November 2027, with a sound piece by Emeka Ogboh and an education programme for children and adults, including wellbeing and mental health.

Why the suit, and why now

Everything starts with the suit. No suit, no dive, no images, no exhibition. It is handmade from soft neoprene and printed with a glowing design inspired by comb jellies and siphonophores, using Swiss Super-LumiNova pigment. It has to be made and tested before the dive in 2027.

Who we are

I’m Zoe Moore, freediver, freediving instructor and artist. SEA THE UNSEEN is the first project of LIVING SYSTEMS, a non-profit association in Zurich. Every franc raised here goes to the project.

The images on this page are concept visuals. The real suit is what your donation will help make.

If you can’t give right now, sharing this page helps too.

The deep is not a separate world. It is the root of ours. Thank you for helping us show it.

– Zoe