25th November – 23rd December 2021

During July 2020, in a moment of respite between two pandemic waves, a journey along England’s east coast produced 70 images from 17 piers. In this exhibition these images of a summer of staycations and beach holidays evoke seaside reminiscences and recapture a sense of 1950s romanticism and seaside postcard humour. On the other hand, the reality of living in a pandemic, and the knowledge that nostalgia is always an idealised utopia, is also funnelled into these photographs through cartoon styling and digital processing – a combination of the real and the virtual darkroom. Viewers are encouraged to interpret the images in light of their own experiences of the real and the idealised, the utopian and the dystopian in our present moment.

The Citizens Wallpaper project commenced in 2012 and will finish by 2022, by which time the innovative illustrated narrative will comprise a 65-metre-long canvas that mirrors contemporary citizenship and identity from the Atlantic Ocean to the Irish Sea. www.citizenswallpaper.com

Opening launch: Wednesday 24th November at 7pm in the Basement Gallery.