Development
I wanted to create a project that involved travel and documenting, but in a more interesting way than just taking photos of a new place. I had the idea of collecting stones from a local beach and then taking them with me to Cornwall, on the school residential, with the intention of leaving messages on them to do with the displacement of them from their original beach, giving one stone to each other student on the trip to use for the same purpose.
First I went to my local beach to collect some stones to take away, document, and write messages on. My criteria was to keep them small and flat to make it easier to write on them, and make it easier to carry them. I wrote a message on two stones, as a first experiment of the project, leaving one on the beach where it was found, saying "take me somewhere new", and the other to take to Cornwall, asking "How far can I go?".
While on the beach I took photographs of it , to allow for comparison of the beaches her and in Cornwall, to help emphasise/highlight the theme of displacement in this work. |
In Cornwall I took photos of the beaches, including Newlyn beach which really helped in developing a contrast between the beaches in Cornwall and at home, given the grey and darker toned stones of the beach. I also photographed The beach at St Ives, which was more comparable in colours to bournemouth beaches, it stood out because of its nature as a harbour and more tourist-oriented beach.
I left a stone on this beach, with a way to contact me left on the back in the hopes that someone who may find it could get curious and want to know more about it. |
Exhibition
When exhibiting this project, I made links between my photographs, drawing comparisons between the two places and their beaches. I made sure that the photos involving the stone were the largest, drawing focus onto them and the similarities and differences between the photos. At the base of the board I left the stones I had left over, and a sign inviting people to take one and write a message on it, with the intention to inspire other people to think about displacement, and just how far the stones could go.