Coastal Tonic

Metal Culture (2023)

A project exploring the historical relationship between healthcare and coastal waters. The work investigates local archival material and engages with community groups, alongside considering the legacy of human impacts upon the environment and future of the river Thames estuary. The socially engaged project connects with creatives, environmental groups and academics, alongside delivering arts workshops considering the senses and the coast. The project speculatively enquires regarding the rejuvenating properties of the local seaside through DIY shed-lab analytics of coastal air, water samples and found materials, including Victorian era methodologies to explore ozone, ionised baths and other remedies sold to relieve chronic health conditions.

It included a new methodology for creating artwork that responds to the environment using historical lab techniques. Ozonometric pieces change with exposure to the seaside air and qualitatively detect the concentration of ozone. Adapted from 1850s laboratory methodologies created by Schonbein, the discoverer of ozone, these techniques can be embedded into pieces placed at the interface with the environment. They consider the myths around rejuvenation from this lauded coastal air property. We now know ozone has little proven health benefits, yet it was sold as a cure for chronic health conditions from the Victorian times, with people flocking to the coast to breathe the air including as a prescription from doctors. The seaside smell previously attributed to ozone is in fact Dimethyl Sulfide, a substance made by bacteria and micro-organisms with important roles in chemical processes in the ecosystem and cloud formation in climate regulation.