Sea Change

Sea Change is a study of contemporary people in Britain’s eroded coastal town of Folkestone, during 2016-2018

Once celebrated, feted and adored, Britain’s coast is struggling to find a role in people’s hearts in the age of bargain-basement cheap-flights and package holidays. In the place of lustrous vibrancy is desolation, decline and dereliction, where the fate of the seaside town has seemingly been sealed.

With social deprivation and cuts cutting deeper into coastal communities, places like Folkestone are fighting to evolve, re-evaluate and find new purpose. As one of the 10% of most deprived areas of the country, it has high rates of deprivation and low scope in terms of jobs and careers. There is dilapidation, it is rough around the edges, there are barren spaces and roads you should avoid.

And it’s the age-old conundrum of gentrification that splits the community. The old vs. the new. The greater good, vs. the individual. The respect for roots vs. profit and greed.

Tensions that gentrification and the new-comers had raised, and started shooting portraits of Folkestone’s residents in December 2016 – just a few months after the Brexit vote, in which Shepway [of which Folkestone is a part] voted 62.2% to Leave.

Which poses the question, what does Folkestone’s future look like? Is it here right now? Will it ever arrive?

Sea Change attempts to document the people of Folkestone through the eyes of its future, and its past, unpicking nuances that both contradict and complement.

As a gateway to the European Union, Folkestone is a melting post of cultural and political relevance. A mass of contradictions, unity and opinion, Folkestone is a small town where roles are no longer defined, creating a zenith moment for its inhabitants who are free to live as their parents did, or to set their own path.

Sea Change has been exhibited in Folkestone, Palermo & Ipswich Photo East photography festival, as well as one image from the project seen on digital screens across the UK as part of Portrait of Britain 2018.

Sea Change has been featured in various media outlets including: BBC, The Guardian, Independent, The British Journal of Photography, Le Republica, Hero, Then There Was Us, Creative Boom, Trip.

Selected images from Sea Change has won or been shortlisted for awards, which include a 2018 winning image and 2019 shortlisted image both featured in the Hoxton Press published Portrait of Britain book.

Lee Brodhurst-Hooper Photography