🌊 WHAT THE WATER GAVE US

Fishing Quarter Gallery, Brighton Seafront | 9–14 June 2026

There are things the sea gives us that we recognise immediately. Light, movement, air, a sense of calm.
And then there are things it returns more quietly.

Fragments. Objects. Materials altered by time, tide, and contact.

What the Water Gave Us is a new body of work that has grown from spending time with those returns, and with the people who spend their lives paying close attention to what exists just beneath the surface.

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Working with what the sea returns

Over the past months, I have been collecting materials from the shoreline. Pieces of marine plastic, fragments of ghost gear, and other objects carried back by the tide.

Rather than treating these as waste to be discarded, I have been working directly onto them. Painting onto surfaces that already hold a history. Surfaces that have been shaped by salt, movement, and time.

Alongside this, some works incorporate responsibly sourced organic material from the sea. This acknowledges not just what is left behind, but what continues to grow, shift, and sustain life.

These objects are not neutral. They carry traces of use, loss, and return.

The act of painting onto them becomes a way of asking
What does it mean to look again at something we might otherwise overlook?

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Listening as part of the work

This exhibition also brings together voices from people whose relationship with the sea is grounded in long term observation, care, and advocacy.

Through conversations with Sussex Underwater and Sussex Dolphin Project, I have been thinking about the sea not just as a surface, but as a complex, living system. One that is both resilient and under pressure.

Their experiences have shaped a sound work within the exhibition. A layered audio piece made from fragments of these conversations. Rather than presenting full explanations, the piece offers moments. Reflections on what is seen, what is missed, what has been lost, and what is slowly returning.

Listening becomes part of the encounter.

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What we see, and what we do not

A recurring thread throughout the exhibition is the idea of attention.

From the shoreline, the sea can appear flat, opaque, and unknowable. But beneath that surface, there is constant activity. Ecosystems, interactions, and lives that rarely enter our field of vision.

At the same time, there are absences that are harder to perceive. Damage that happens out of sight. Changes that only become visible over time.

The work does not attempt to explain this fully. Instead, it asks...

What happens if we slow down enough to notice more?
What becomes visible when we begin to pay attention?

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Events and shared experiences

During the exhibition, there will be a small programme of events that extend these ideas into shared experience.

These include:

A family friendly beach exploration and creative session with Sussex Underwater, inviting participants to collect, discuss, and respond to what the sea leaves behind: https://sussexunderwater.uk

A Landwatch and coastal observation session with Sussex Dolphin Project, focusing on noticing and understanding marine life from the shoreline: https://sussexdolphinproject.org

Stories of the Bay with Sussex Bay https://www.sussexbay.org.uk

Full details and timings will be shared closer to the exhibition.

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A space to spend time

What the Water Gave Us does not offer a single narrative or conclusion.

Instead, it creates a space to spend time with materials, voices, and moving light. To move between what is visible and what is suggested.

To consider the sea not as something separate from us, but as something we are already part of.

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📍 Visit:

Fishing Quarter Gallery
201 Kings Road Arches
Brighton Seafront
BN1 1NB

9–14 June 2026
10am–4pm daily