#20
The Driftweed Artist
2 events
Follow thedriftweedartist on instagram.With sustainability at the heart of her practice, Gemila forages on Thanet beaches at low tide in all weathers, collecting small amounts of ‘driftweed’ (pieces of seaweed that have become detached from their rocky holdfast and are floating freely in the shallows or washed up onto the beach). She takes these specimens back home to begin the drying process in her hand made wooden presses before transforming them into delicate works of art. The process is slow but exciting because you can never predict how each pressing will turn out. Sadly, when most of us ‘Thanetian’s’ think of seaweed we think of the pungent mounds which build up on our beaches in the summer. Through reviving the Victorian art of seaweed pressing with a modern twist Gemila hopes to help others look closer and to see the true beauty of Thanet’s seaweeds that has hitherto gone unnoticed.
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