I see beauty in antiquity and often find decayed relics of the past while beachcombing along British Columbia’s coastal waters. Those rusted bits and pieces, which through tides and time have found their way to a shoreline resting place, represent seafaring industries of an earlier era.
To free the shore of these unwanted intruders which disturb the natural beauty of the beach seems like the right thing to do. So, I pick them up and pack them home.
The twisted rusty cable, the pieces of corroded metal, and the old spikes in From the Ocean are mere shadows of their former selves. To give them a new purpose somehow seems to preserve their dignity. The addition of the shore bird, sea shells, beach glass, Japanese fishing float, and dried kelp in the assemblage links them back to the sea.