Coastal Defence is a series of engravings exploring coastal erosion, ocean conservation and climate change in a local and global context. The series includes: South Street, Alphabet City, 55 Water Street, Manhattan Beach, Interstate 95, Mill Basin
Mill Basin is a four-block relief print comprising woodcut and engraving, cut and printed in reduction to make a seven colour, layered print.
The work explores the world above and below the sea, and ideas of home, connectedness, place, and loss. It considers how the ocean connects coastal places around the world and draws parallels between a local, Norfolk coastline and all coastal regions and cities around the world set to be impacted by sea-level rise.
These engravings combine drawings of the rock armour and reefs built to protect the Norfolk seawall, with drawings of maps of the 1953 flood damage recorded at Sea Palling, a coastal village in Norfolk, and drawings of projected flood maps of New York.
The work illustrates a deepening understanding of the loss of the Norfolk coast to the sea and questions the role of identity, memory, experience, history, and narrative within the construct of place and home.
