Mary Spicer lives near the coastal Pakefield, south of Lowestoft, and through her work asks questions; about ourselves, about our response to the environment, and how a painter might communicate her concerns. Ancient cliffs tower over the beaches between Pakefield and Southwold, revealing much, the erosion gouging and removing layers of matter, that have built up over thousands of years, while winter storms find beaches strewn with peat and fallen trees and the remains of footpaths from above.

Human vulnerability became increasingly marked during Covid, as people walked on the beaches with a backdrop of eroding cliffs. The elements have always worn away the land along this coastline, but rising sea-levels now threatening human habitations, which stand precariously at the edge of destruction. There is much symbolism to be extracted from the ever-changing and impermanent architectural forms, that are revealed and lost as wind and sea make a mockery of sea-defences and human attempts to keep back the waves. Yet there is extraordinary and raw beauty here, wild places that remind us how small our concerns are, as the cliffs stand as guardians of the land and tower over us.

Spicer finds inspiration, and hope, in the awe-inspiring beaches that continue to build up, with new banks of sand and shingle, anchored by marram grass, bushes of sea-buckthorn, hundreds of tiny euphorbia and sea-holly and kale. Little-terns are protected here, a crested skylark might be glimpsed or an occasional seal – or skeins of cormorants flying out to sea. Kessingland beach has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and  further south still Benacre has a Nature Reserve that protects migratory birds.

Like the War artists who reported from the front line, Spicer wants to use a visual language to communicate all that is happening in the area around her, in the hope that it will make people reflect and help to secure the coastline for her children and grandchildren.