Tim Collier: Ghosts of the Restless Shore

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After almost a year since we recorded our original conversation with photographer Tim Collier, we were delighted to pay him another visit to hear the background to his most recent project ‘Ghosts of the Restless Shore: Space, Place and Memory of the Sefton Coast’.

Part of the exhibition space in the Atkinson gallery in Southport.

Tim Collier. Image © Emyr Young

A year-long collaboration with his brother Mike and three others, the project began life as a series of walks which developed into a ‘walking symposium’ along the Sefton Coastal Footpath in 2014 and led by natural historian John Dempsey from the Sefton Coast Landscape Partnership.

The resulting exhibition ran from 15th August to the 15th November 2015 at the Atkinson gallery in Southport. As part of his contribution to the project, Tim' work provided studies of the ornithological heritage of the Sefton Coast seen through the eyes of a keen birdwatcher. Mike Collier incorporated illustrations and texts from historical family guide books about local flora. Jake Campbell’s poetry weaves together a range of social and natural history heritage themes from the area; and sound artists Rob Strachan and Sam Wiehl created a new audio-visual work drawing upon a fusion of contemporary recorded sound from the coast, highlighting the key role that memory plays in framing our sense of place and of self. Additionally, each artist contributed their own written Essay for inclusion in the resulting book and available for download online via the project website.

Enjoy the conversation below. We did. And we came away, once again, inspired by a very talented and passionate photographer.

To find our more detail on the background and content of the exhibition, and the excellent book available to purchase, visit the website www.ghosts-of-the-restless-shore.co.uk

See more of Tim's work on his personal website www.timcollierphotography.com and follow him on Twitter @timcollier58