Winterton

Winterton can be a bleak and unforgiving place - a canvas upon which the forces of nature are tossed relentlessly. A thin line exists here between growth & decay, and as a backdrop to it all, the battle rages between nature and our incessant spoiling of the planet. These landscapes from the Norfolk Coast reflect many of those strange conflicts and raw truths which the hand of humankind (and natures powerful forces) create at the meeting point between land and sea. Wind, temperature, sand, and salt; they all blast and reduce solid matter into powder, texture, and skeleton.

A single 30 year-old print film was used for these pictures - having also soaked- up the ravages of time and temperature under a degree of controlled carelessness, it remained unexposed in its metal cassette since childhood. By exposing its aged emulsion to this wild beach, the resulting 'faults' and blotchy colour shifts seem to respond sympathetically to the environment, leaving impressions or faded memories of a harsh terrain, images which almost seem desperate to emerge, or to seep back into their own emulsion.

Rising sea levels mean that many of these unique environments may not survive into the next century. These images reflect that beautiful fragility in their own bleached ruination. Against a contemporary tide of digital precision and forensic accuracy, the inevitability of change is exposed. The power of nature and an uncertain future all appear to be locked into their indistinct and unresolved appearance.