I have been spending extended periods of time on the Outer Cape for almost 20 years seeking to develop a body of work that involves an engagement with the area’s ecology. Nearly all of this work includes active collaborations with natural forces including tides, animals, deterioration, erosion and chance.

This series of photographs is based on drawings made by snails on the wet sand in the intertidal zone. They are part of an ongoing series of works involving collaboration between the snails and me. I choreograph the snails’ starting positions, and then photograph the marks they make over time. The best pieces depend on a certain degree of randomness for their success. I tend to think of the snail pieces as a metaphor for the order we establish in our lives, and how the element of chance enters in to affect the result - regardless of how much we attempt to structure it.

The snails (Atlantic Periwinkle) are rarely moved more than a few yards and, so far as I know, are not harmed in any way. Additionally none of the works have been digitally altered in any way and are all traditional toned silver prints.

The works are usually in time sequences of two to four images. My rhythm of working is based on the tides, as the Atlantic periwinkle is sedentary at certain tides. I work on the pieces in the field over the summer, and in the studio in the fall. I have been engaged with this series since 1993 and it continues through the present.

Snail Drawings Series. 1993-

Snail Drawings: "Grid Start #2", 1998, toned gelatin silver prints