In August 2026, I had the opportunity to present a Lunchtime Response at Towner Eastbourne, responding to Eric Ravilious’s Beachy Head.
I was drawn to the painting because I know Beachy Head very well. It is a place I return to often and one I regularly visit with friends and family. Seeing a familiar landscape in a painting creates a particular feeling for me — that moment of recognising a place and thinking, “I know this place. I have been there.”
I decided to visit Beachy Head with my camera and try to find the exact viewpoint from which Ravilious created the painting. I walked around the landscape, looking at the relationship between the lighthouse, the cliffs, the road and the foreground, but I couldn’t find the exact position.
This led me to think about two things: how much a landscape can change over time, and how an artist transforms a landscape through their own way of seeing. Ravilious made sketches and colour notes on site and developed his final paintings later, creating carefully composed images rather than simply copying what was in front of him.
This connected naturally with my ongoing project Seeking Silence, which began on 31 October 2025. I photograph the sea almost every day when I am in Eastbourne, observing how light, weather, colour and atmosphere constantly change a familiar place.
I shared a selection of photographs from Seeking Silence, including images made on different days, showing how the same sea can look completely different from one moment to another. I also spoke about how my own mood and state of mind can influence the way I photograph a place.
Presenting this response was a new experience for me: speaking publicly about my artistic practice and exploring my work through a conversation with another artist’s work.
JOURNAL
