Sea Wrack

"This book is the second in the Man, Horse, and Sea series. After the opening of my exhibition in Oostduinkerke, Belgium, my wife Julia and I caught the train to Brittany, France, to see about doing research on the gathering of sea weed. We heard our chances of it being done were slim due to a recent oil spill along the coast. We decided to attempt it regardless. We found that activity was in progress on the Isle de Batz, a small island off the coast of Brittany, as the oil somehow missed the kelp beds there.

"As the ferry boat approached the island we saw a man with a horse and cart hauling sea weed that his wife and children were cutting off the rocks. The tide was out and we were told the island doubles its size at every low tide. When the boat docked I rushed ahead to see where the sea weed was stacked in time to see the man unload. I gestured with my hands if he minded if I took photos. He replied the same way that it was okay. We were on the island four days and I followed the wrack gatherers each day. I showed the man my sketch book of the shrimp fishermen of Oostduinkerke and we communicated by signs. He caught my meaning and went out of his way to help me obtain the photo research I needed.

"One day I followed him into the barnyard to photograph him going in for the noon meal. He motioned to me to follow him to a one room stone house shored up with timbers. He unlocked the door and we went in. A tier of bunks formed a hallway from the floor to the ceiling. The hall opened into the large room with a fireplace on one end. The man, I never did learn to pronounce his name, pointed to one bunk and then to himself in a motion as a baby and I understood this to mean where he was born. The house was like those in Gauguin's paintings and very old. Along side was a new house he built for his parents. It is experiences like this that make my book projects so rewarding."