Strandline

Signed copies

Publisher's description

If I had to name a favourite activity, then walking on a fine beach following the snaking line of flotsam and jetsam left by the last high tide, scanning and picking through the material for things of interest would rank highly.

I’ve started to see this line as a daily manifestation, almost a drawing, of the absolute maximum pull the moon could manage at the peak of a tide cycle. It’s a kind of record both of the whirling spinning forces of the universe and a forensic measure of both the beauty of nature and the folly of human activity. This link between the macro and the micro has been a constant theme in my work.

My work is informed by regular visits to Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland. There, sandy beaches are called “strands” and the high tide mark is called the “strandline”

The unifying thread through the group of images in this book is the use of material gathered on various strandlines in Ireland, Scotland and North East England.

In particular they all contain strand like materials, either plastics, Polypropylene or Nylon from braided ropes, or monofilament fishing line and various types of metal wire. Or, various ductile metals, Copper, iron and other ferrous compounds, phosphate carbon steel or galvanised zinc.

The final ingredient is seawater collected from the sea adjacent to the beach.

In my studio I painstakingly create constructed glass plates that I call “negatives”, these are usually on 5”x4” glass plates.

When ready, the plates are photographed on a flat bed scanner to create a digital file.

Paul Kenny - June 2024