School submissions to World Beach are always a delight. Here, from students working in stunning and remote locations towards the extremities of our planet. The Falkland Islands: wild, beautiful, isolated in the Southern Atlantic Ocean and within spitting distance of the Antarctic.
Karen, the teacher simply says ‘I took my small school on a field trip to make these pictures as part of the World Beach Project.’ The sun, as the landscape, is stark bright and clear. The adult gazes out to the horizon, the children – Kia Jack Rodrigo – chase, facing in to the detail of shore. The wind pushes and pulls at coats and hoods ‐ you sense the cool clarity of the air and the scuffling of small stones against Wellington boot.
It’s always good to see the finished works but over the last couple of years the real joy for me has come from the images of people making, moments of intense concentration with rock and stone. Karen doesn’t need to say more, the images tell the story. Low Pass, Goose Green, Falklands 22 May 2010.
Way to the north, just shy of the Arctic Circle, two small islands off the Norwegian coast have also been touched by World Beach. On Sula (below), a series of sculptures and patterns made during the joint summer camp of Froya Havleirskole and Birralee International School, Trondheim. Sula, Norway 23 April 2008.
And from Soerburoey North, Soerburoey Skole uploaded a grid of their patterns on 12 June 2009.
I hope the children will forever keep the memory of these experiences.