Those months without air
sleep arrested
to the staccato tic.tac of statistic
choked on virus hold.
sleep arrested
to the staccato tic.tac of statistic
choked on virus hold.
Those anaerobic teemings
of musty mud-wet life
synthesize senses
with less-than-micro glimpses of diatomaceous life.
of musty mud-wet life
synthesize senses
with less-than-micro glimpses of diatomaceous life.
Performance to camera, still. Estuarine mudflats, Purton Ship's Graveyard, just North of Sharpness on the upper reaches of the Severn.
Estuarine mud, the rivers and oceans are teeming with diatoms: single-celled siliceous micro-organisms living in oceans, rivers, mudflats... everywhere. They are a major part of the ecological food chain, essential for nurturing life on Earth. Through photosynthesis, diatoms convert CO2 into organic carbon releasing significant quantities of oxygen into the atmosphere (about 20% of the oxygen we breathe is produced by diatoms in our water bodies across the world, each year).
The water-ways around Bristol are volatile; the Severn Estuary has the second largest tidal reach in the world (about 15m). The tidal waters push up into the Avon through the centre of Bristol and the floods bring deluges down; sewage dumping by the water companies is frequent. It is an environment barely in equilibrium, demonstrated when Cumberland Road outside Spike Island collapsed into the canalised tidal New Cut.
The mudbank running alongside the canal at Purton Ship's Graveyard was shored up with end-of-life ships to defend against the ravages of the tide.