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Floating Island is a picture collage that captures life a board the oil tanker Furenäs during a two week journey, Gävle-Gedansk-Amsterdam-Rotterdam. The pictures depict the boat´s different sides, both the daily work and life on board and the environment around it. Life and work aboard a tanker can become isolated since the sailors rarely get a chance to leave the boat. Working on a vessel is not a way to see the world any more.

Some of the crew are working on board for nine month nonstop, while others have just signed on after six weeks of leave. To live through all the mundane things on board a oil tanker creates a rather peculiar environment. Both work and rest, amusement and boredom share the same space. The monotonous sound of the oil tanker creates an everyday chorus as it crosses the ocean. The harsh environment at sea affects the work of the route. The tanker is in Faeroes flag, but sailing for a Swedish shipping company, which means that the contracts that the seafarers have differing widely depending on which nationality they belong to. Many days are similar on the oil tanker, and finding a way to let the time go until it is time for the next stop may be viewed as a challenge, depending on whether it is a week, a month or a year until a long time off. To obtain meaningful to everyday life and create a distinction between work and rest is a challenge for everyone who is taking part of this isolated environment. You may take one day at a time, some say it is life between work and rest that you live for. For some, these moments are not so common. (text by Maja-Lena Johansson)

Stills from video below, click to see images from exhibition at the Maritime Museum.