The littoral zone, the area that lies between land and sea, is a dynamic, shifting space. I have long been fascinated by its transient beauty.
My home, at the tip of the Wirral peninsula in North West England, is a stone’s throw from the beach. Each day I look out over a wide expanse of windswept shore where, at low tide, the sea retreats far out toward the western horizon. I walk these sands daily and have become familiar with the tidal patterns. A witness in this most temporary of environments; a place in daily conversation with salt water, where a fresh landscape is revealed after each tide.
A mile out from land, as the sea ebbs and flows on the neap tides, temporary sandbanks are formed. Encircled by seawater, these sandbars, normally submerged during higher tides, briefly become my own private islands. A time to reflect and observe. Fragments of shell swept in on the tide, windblown sand, lines made in the likeness of a wave. Nature’s delicate artistry.
This collection is part of a larger series of works started in 2017 and created using a process which has offered me a more direct, physical way of engaging with the littoral landscape Working out on the sandbanks, light sensitive materials are exposed to the elements. Waves and wind, sunlight and sand all leave their imprint; the tiniest of details permanently etched upon the papers. Each print is the result of a unique set of conditions at one particular moment in time – a fleeting representation of an ever-changing landscape.
Notes from a Sandbank
The littoral zone, the area that lies between land and sea, is a dynamic, shifting space. I have long been fascinated by its transient beauty.
My home, at the tip of the Wirral peninsula in North West England, is a stone’s throw from the beach. Each day I look out over a wide expanse of windswept shore where, at low tide, the sea retreats far out toward the western horizon. I walk these sands daily and have become familiar with the tidal patterns. A witness in this most temporary of environments; a place in daily conversation with salt water, where a fresh landscape is revealed after each tide.
A mile out from land, as the sea ebbs and flows on the neap tides, temporary sandbanks are formed. Encircled by seawater, these sandbars, normally submerged during higher tides, briefly become my own private islands. A time to reflect and observe. Fragments of shell swept in on the tide, windblown sand, lines made in the likeness of a wave. Nature’s delicate artistry.
This collection is part of a larger series of works started in 2017 and created using a process which has offered me a more direct, physical way of engaging with the littoral landscape Working out on the sandbanks, light sensitive materials are exposed to the elements. Waves and wind, sunlight and sand all leave their imprint; the tiniest of details permanently etched upon the papers. Each print is the result of a unique set of conditions at one particular moment in time – a fleeting representation of an ever-changing landscape.