Off Shore

A circular sculpture made with cable ties and fishing net rollers also know as ‘rock-hoppers’ which are cut from used vehicle tyres into circular pieces with holes at their centres.  Trawler fishing boats string rock-hoppers along the bottom edge of the mouth of their nets which allows the nets to roll freely along the seabed and bounce over any rocks leaving less damage in their wake.  As a result of this technique, lines and textures are traced on the seabed around our shores and more temporary mark-marking occurs as they are dragged through the water disturbing and diverting its flow. The material’s second life echoing its former when as vehicle tyres it left temporary imprints across the landscape.

The cellular clustering of the pieces bound together into a new kind of fabric with cable ties, draws arbitrary connections. The words cable ties alluding to contemporary societies’ reliance on global communications networks, still most of which use cables strung across the sea bed, as well as a marine measurement of distance travelled.  A ‘cable length’ is a nautical unit of measure equal to one tenth of a nautical mile or approximately 100 fathoms.

Both tyres and cable ties are made with synthetic materials  which are produced from fossil fuels, their production processes cause air and water pollution and as they wear out they leave synthetic rubber particles behind which contribute significantly to the global plastic pollution problem and they do not biodegrade.  I chose cable ties to link these pieces not only for their aesthetic effect  but also to draw attention to the subject of its permanent material legacy.  25% of micro plastics in the oceans stems from tyres.

Material: Cable ties and rubber fishing net rollers

Dimensions: 100 x 10 cm 

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Email: cigdem@winkgallery.co.uk or imogen@uptoncastle.com.