The sea

The sea and being trapped was a common theme through many of our participants artworks including a participant video and unusually an orchestral piece of music called ‘Unfold’ that had been chosen by one of our participants to express her emotional feelings about migration and the dangers of the sea. Some of our participants spoke about the UK as showing an island mentality and being cut off from Europe & the rest of the world. One participant saw the sea as a barrier of words and nonsense and confusion. The combination of Brexit with the added restrictions of Covid had created barriers, a mass of impenetrable cold blue sea had become a border control that was difficult to navigate. There were even differentiations in the colour of the sea with the channel being coloured deep blue, cold and dangerous while the Mediterranean was pictured as turquoise warm, homely and nice. The sea routes between the UK and Europe had once been a safe passage but had now become inhospitable. The explanations given by participants of their artwork exposed nuances around the sea being a danger zone. Because of Brexit, the sea is more than just sea, it becomes a liquid barrier, a messy fortification that disallows people to conduct and live their lives as they did till just two years ago. But the sea is also an emotive barrier.

Corrine, French

'The sea is a lot more tormented, it’s like with lots of waves and agitated so that would be what I felt. This agitation where you’re not calm at all, you’re constantly waiting for the situation to change, like the good news to come or trying to reassure yourself and calm yourself down. It takes more energy than just fighting against the wave.'

Andrea, German

'I mean before Brexit the sea was a geographical feature of my life but neutrally so yeah and it was also, yeah it was a conduit, it was a passage, it was a link between bits of landmass. I have completely changed my perspective on the sea now, it has become a source of conflict.'