Fresh perspectives on often hidden facets of the lived experience in the maritime world are the focus in a new photography exhibition in London.
Exposure: Lives at Sea brings together images from six photographers who have chosen to incorporate their art into their working lives to give a candid insight into the real world of the sea; from shipping, oil rigs and fishing, to the study of ocean life, Antarctica and tourism.
The exhibition at the UK’s National Maritime Museum, part of Royal Museums Greenwich, was delayed but has now opened as the Covid-19 lockdown is eased, and is part of an initiative to connect with the contemporary maritime world.
One of those featured is Brazilian Cezar Gabriel, a chief engineer on tankers, whose pictures capture the camaraderie on board as crew manage the impact of isolation. Gabriel was one of those seafarers who was forced to spend an additional three months at sea this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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“If this pandemic showed us anything, it’s how little we matter for some, and how much for others,” Gabriel said.
The exhibition is the first major project curated by Laura Boon, who is the Lloyd’s Register curator of contemporary maritime at the museum.
Even the process of compiling the show was hit by the pandemic as the UK’s first lockdown occurred just as planning started.
"The importance of seafarers has been brought into sharp focus during the Covid pandemic, seafarers are key workers and helped keep our supermarkets stocked, and yet hundreds of thousands of them have been stranded at sea,” she said.
“This exhibition will hopefully help bring recognition to the important role seafarers play.”
Paddy Rodgers, the former Euronav chief executive who is director at Royal Museums Greenwich, said: “Remember sea workers are key workers but they are also fantastic characters with the most extreme and wonderful lives.”
Peter Iain Campbell has chosen to work on oil rigs in the North Sea and use his photography to capture the people as they dealt with the challenging environment. He uses traditional manual cameras to take shots where electronic equipment is forbidden because of the risk of sparks.
“There’s an underlying feeling of isolation and danger offshore,” Campbell said. “The physical environment claustrophobic, the natural elements brutal.”
Among the other photographers are dramatic shots from Corey Arnold of commercial fishing off Alaska, Jennifer Adler’s images of marine conservation in the Pacific, marine ecotourism off Mexico by Octavio Aburto, and the isolation of scientific research in Antarctica by Michal Krzysztofowicz.
Exposure: Lives at Sea is free to enter at the Royal Museums Greenwich and will be open until the end of 2021
