Exhibition: The Sea Horizon
The Sea Horizon, No. 18, 1976-77
© Garry Fabian Miller
Views of Wales - from shore to shore
The Sea Horizon features 40 photographs by Garry Fabian Miller, all of which were made between 1976-77. Across eighteen months Fabian Miller photographed the view from the rooftop of his home in Clevedon, looking out across the Severn Estuary towards the coastline of Wales. Each photograph has the same square format with the line of the horizon dividing the sea and the sky. Compositional changes in light and weather disrupt the otherwise controlled elements of the work. The result is a group of forty portraits, all technically identical, yet all representationally unique. A powerful meditation on time, place and belonging.
The Sea Horizon is a reminder of how landscapes change and adapt over time, particularly when considering the tidal range of the Severn Estuary, the second largest in the world. Almost fifty years after it was first made, the work takes on new relevance in the context of the climate crisis and rising sea levels.
Garry Fabian Miller is one of the most progressive figures in fine art photography. 2023 marks a celebration of the artist’s life and work with a survey exhibition, Adore, at Arnolfini from 18 February – 28 May, and an exhibition and publication of his memoir, The Dark Room, produced as part of his Honorary Fellowship with the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.