Sink or Float : An Artificial Island

Sink or Float takes its name from a simple physics game, guessing the result of dropping an object in a body of water. Whilst the subtitle, An Artificial Island refers directly to the city of Portsmouth and a nearby manmade nature reserve, documented in photographs which adorn the gallery walls. True to the two part title, Wetherly’s exhibition is both playful and deadly serious. Pops of bright orange and blue are scattered across the space like game pieces but in the creation of unsustainable habitats (littered with discarded oyster shells), the soil elsewhere dries out or is so polluted that we risk losing the rich biodiversity of ecosystems like mudflats and seagrass meadows. Potentially fatal for much-loved and much-needed species.