In December 2018, I stood on the steps to the channel at Dover and photographed the sea. Showing waves crashing into concrete, these images express the emotional turmoil I experienced during Brexit. In Finstere Zeiten [Dark Times], I have combined these shots with text drawn from newspapers, books, and personal experience, which illustrate the intensity of the division and debate in Britain at this time. I am interested in documenting moral shifts in society, changes which are initially almost imperceptible then slowly lead a society into a different direction; over the last decade, Britain has undergone a profound change. The title of my project comes from Hannah Arendt’s book, Men in Dark Times, which argues that “of all the specific liberties which may come into our minds when we hear the word freedom, freedom of movement is historically the oldest and also the most elementary”. The images focus on the sea, an ever-moving body that flows from place to place. The channel isn’t owned by a single country and, while it serves as a frontier, it’s also always facilitated travel.
