Meresig is the Old English name for Mersea Island in Essex, UK. It literally means Island of the Pool. I visited Meresig in January 2020 during a time of over-work and borderline exhaustion. Looking back, I also feel that, although we didn’t know then what lay ahead in 2020, there was already a sense of oppression in the air. Australia was on fire, a mysterious new virus was running amok in the Far East, the Poles were too hot. When I first arrived at Meresig, early morning drizzle seemed to echo my mood, but it soon gave way to a fine mist. The tide’s slow retreat revealed an intricate fretwork of oyster beds. With just the echo of an oyster catcher’s call and the gentle lapping of sea on shingle for company, I made this portfolio to express how that place felt to me, peaceful yet lonely, with a sense of melancholy. A place of emptiness and isolation, it felt like the pause before something happens. Meresig is the calm before the storm and the peace after it. It is my response to 2020.