Beachcombing, 2026

Description

When the sea is calm and the tide is out on Long Beach, you can find men on the rocks foraging for various shellfish. I often stop for a chat and ask what they’re looking for. They tell me they forage because they don’t have work and when I ask if they sell the seafood, they always say 'no'. Their collection is for themselves and their families. While it is, strictly speaking, illegal to forage in this way, I always find myself empathising with these men. They are not the commercial fishing conglomerates emptying our seas. These are men in disadvantaged circumstances doing what they can to feed themselves. Most of them are happy to be photographed. I hope the prints of them somehow capture their resilience.