In 2019, the Hospital Rooms commissioned a new edition of ‘white in the sea’ for the Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Devon Partnership Trust, NHS.
The work made for The Junipers is based on an ongoing series ‘white in the sea’, a volume of photographs that explore my intrigue and curiosity with the surface of the ocean. Taken at varying coastlines across Britain and the world, these works are often captured over the course of single day, these studies observe the water reflecting and refracting natural light; the resulting images index the mood and beauty of the light present and the pigment overlaid upon the images are extracted from pixels within the photographs themselves. Utilising a 35mm film camera, this series sees digital techniques woven into analogue processes and is a continuation of my exploration into the photographic surface.
For the commission it was important to choose a coastline that would anchor patients to remind them of a familiar site associated with the area; the works were eventually photographed in Exmouth, a sea located close to the unit and familiar to both the community of staff and patients. The expansive views of the water held within the natural cliff edges and rocks that surround the beach a characteristic of the Jurassic coast line.
‘white in the sea, Vol. XIII, Exmouth’ is the thirteenth edition in the series and is dedicated to the memory of my late father.
white in the sea, vol. XIII Exmouth, 2019
Commissioned by Hospital Rooms on behalf of Devon Partnership Trust NHS
Installation Photographs: Damien Griffiths
