Saltmarsh

All the images in this exhibition were taken on a film camera from a small aeroplane and then handprinted in a traditional darkroom by the artist Rachel Spender. The process of making these photographs may be decidedly old-fashioned but the results are stunning.

The vulnerability of the salt marsh cannot be overemphasised. It has perhaps taken thousands of years to form these natural intricate meandering growth patters we see from the air and within one day they can be destroyed by man. The extraction from our fresh water rivers has given rise to the silting up of our saltwater estuaries, and the what we believe is a misguided notion of digging up silted rivers and depositing the soil onto eroding shores, thus negating the whole natural process of change and decay. Some of the photographs in the exhibition explore the juxtaposition of man-made, imposed structures in the form of the sea walls, as in ‘Walled Defence’, the stark hard edged, brutal concrete wall to keep out the soft, natural organic growth and formation of salt marsh. In most of the images there is just a hint of man, giving it scale, be it a buoy, a barge, a glimpse of a sea wall, or indeed the aeroplane wing.

Some images such as ‘Oily Ooze’ give no hint of scale and could equally be a close up of sunlight on a trickle in a ditch. However, the images are best viewed free from the knowledge of specific locations, thus delighting in the purely abstract sculptural and textural qualities.

This is a second chance to see an exhibition first shown at Firstsite Gallery in Colchester before it was locked-down in 2021.

The exhibition previews on Saturday 9th April 2022 from 12 to 7pm.

It continues until Sunday 29th May 2022.

Please RSVP to this exhibition.