April 2005

John Kippin
Essex Coastline

Beyond Boundaries
John Kippin produced a series of photographs of Essex coastal landscapes that examine the relationship between identity and landscape, evoking 'a landscape that is worth defending'. These photographs include images of Martello towers, forts and other heritage military establishments along the Essex coast.

Kippin's photographic images were distributed broadly through Essex Matters and Art Review, as well as a series of postcards. An exhibition of his photographs formed a central part of the firstsite Coast exhibition (31 July - 4 September 2004). This website included a large selection of Kippin's photographs, accompanied by an essay written by the artist.

It is envisaged these photographs will form the basis of an exhibition for the soon to be renovated Jaywick Martello Tower, due to open in spring 2005. This work will have international significance through its links with the trans-national heritage project Crossing The Lines, which is facilitating the exchange of good practice in the renovation and use of 19th Century military establishments adjacent to the North Sea.

http://www.coastart.org/jaywickmartellotower.htm

Artist's Statement
Excerpt from 'On LANDSCAPE, BORDERS, IDENTITY and ESSEX'

The coastline of Essex is the longest single county boundary in England. Its lines are complex and shift with each oncoming tide. It is the gateway to the beating heart of Britain (London) and its complex series of inlets and estuaries suggest secrecy and isolation. This geographic is forever shifted and shaped by the incessant movement of the eternal tide which is continually creating and sculpting the land, developing its context for human experience at the same time as shaping the people that live on it. The Essex coast 'feels like' a landscape which is fragile rather than sublime and there is a nervousness with regard to the threat of invasion and infiltration.

The military archaeology that remains testifies to the threat of invasion for at least 500 years. It is sparse in nature and frequently overlooked in favour of more aesthetic subjects and views. Most of what remains is there because it is located on the outer perimeter of the county and is in places which have not been required for agriculture or other purposes. Some however, despite their aesthetic ineptitude, remain tenaciously attached to the coastal zone creating a melancholic reminder of what might have been and of how many lives have been sacrificed and squandered in the various conflicts of the past.

From the Spanish Armada and Napoleon's invading armies to the big guns of the Germans in World War Two, the coastline of Essex has been on the front line, occasionally for real, but always potentially and always in our unconscious thoughts and imagination. Essex is very much a border landscape and becomes a repository for a collective memory of otherness. The physical remains of conflict become a surrogated remains of our collective conscience and are infused with mythical properties reaffirming our connection with such boundaries and our rights to them.

There is another kind of Essex which has emerged within the last twenty years or so. This seems to date from the John Major conservative government where the 'Essex skinhead' (Norman Tebbit, now Lord Tebbit) was a prominent voice, particularly with regard to social reform. The idea of the 'Essex Girl' is one which is viewed by some with affection (this recognition is flattering to some, and helps to cement a kind of
contemporary identity), but is received by others with horror. This naming is, of course, about social class and the re-affirmation of gender structures, as in contrast 'Mondeo Man' is not specifically from Essex and his particular 'wannabe' culture is not so outwardly sexual.

The county has even produced (who produced it?) a form of the English language, a regional variation entitled 'Estuary English' and one that is the subject of much opprobrium. This variation is defined through its relationship to London where 'wannabes' just are.

We become the embodiment of our environment and of the spaces that we create. This becomes the central dichotomy at the heart of our need to define our identity. There are of course very many ways in which we create an idea of ourselves, not least through our families, histories and culture. All of these things are however inexorably linked to places and are located within a particular time frame. Images that are made of the landscape engage us in a process by which we are able to reflect and to continually reassess our subjective and objective response to spaces and places and to landscapes which are not just aesthetic but humanly created. These landscapes are living social, cultural and political entities which are, at the same time, existentially private and shared spaces from within which we are able to create our own spiritual journeys and experiences.

John Kippin

For further information visit http://www.johnkippin.com/