I am very pleased to have Alphabet City and Interstate 95 hung in the RA Summer Show this year, at the Royal Academy of Arts. I am particularly pleased as these two works are close to my heart.
Alphabet City and Interstate 95 are part of a series of engravings which pick up on the long running idea that drives my practice… That with sea level rise, local is global. It’s about the lived experience, the narratives that make a place and the authenticity within the work.
The Norfolk coast, my home and place, is vulnerable. It will feel the impact of sea-level rise in the coming decades and centuries. Sea-level rise is with us, and it will happen.
The works use the flood damage maps of Sea Palling on the Norfolk Coast next to where I live, drawings of the current sea defences, and predicted flood maps of New York. Seven people died in Sea Palling when their houses were washed away in the 1953 East Coast floods. Many people died along the East Coast including American Service men and their families stationed here. America, and American Cities are vulnerable along with many of the worlds major cities.
40 % of the world’s population live by the sea. Billions will be spent and every effort made to keep the sea out of major towns and cities.
By 2045, the coastal village of Fairbourne is, as I understand it, to be decommissioned. The people will be moved out and the village, their homes and houses will be demolished and removed. There is no choice, or compensation or new homes provided. The actual plan for where people will go are vague and unfunded.
But it does not matter where your home is… If it’s all you have, and all you have worked for, you cannot afford to lose it or replace it. So is this the best we can do for the thousands of people who will lose their homes as the waters rise along the coast, in every river estuary and in some cases miles along the rivers?