THE LITTORAL ZONE/AQUA LIMINA

In my drawing practice, I examine the human relationship to landscape. I explore how  humans have endeavoured to control and navigate their natural surroundings, and how  their interventions into the landscape reflect human experience. 

This project began with an exploration of the littoral zone – the area of a shoreline that  extends from the low tide mark to just beyond the high tide mark. It is a unique space that  attracts hardy vegetation and can withstand the action of the wind and waves as they  mould, and remould, the shoreline. How humans encounter this liminal space, and how  they attempt to navigate this space by the introduction of barriers, bridges, piers etc. are  core themes of this project. 

In 2021, regulations in response to the pandemic meant that travelling to any shoreline for  research and sketching was not possible. I expanded my investigations to explore more local  bodies of water, looking at the liminal spaces between water and land in my own  neighbourhood. Shaped in part by the needs of the human population, as well as by the  elements, these places also have their own particular flora and fauna. 

These two contrasting investigations between the shoreline and local bodies of water  provided the catalyst for this exhibition.