1953 (by Liz Waugh McManus)

The story is set in Suffolk, UK. It reflects on the past, focusing on the 1953 North Sea floods. The greatest natural disaster in England since WW2, the sea level rose up to five metres; 307 lives were lost in a storm surge affecting 500 miles of the East Anglian coast. Voices of survivors are mingled with those of local people who have recently experienced the increasingly frequent local flooding. Marking generations with loss, the flood permanently changed the physical landscape, forming new creeks and lagoons. Scientists predict that sea level rise will alter the East Anglian coastline much more radically over the next fifty to a hundred years unless mitigated. 

Molten glass casts include salt marsh plants foraged along the Stour estuary. Salt marshes form a natural buffer against storm flooding and are rich sites of natural diversity in flora and fauna, taking carbon from the atmosphere. Forty metres of salt marsh reduce waves by 20%, eighty metres reduce them to zero. The marsh is the interface between land and sea, and represents a crucial indicator of how we cooperate with nature.  Do we allow this porous boundary to flourish and protect it from being squeezed out by the rising sea and hard man-built sea defences? It is a microcosm of how we take our responsibilities to our environment.  If we nurture it, it will protect us.

Excerpts of audio from historical narratives

Voices of survivors of 2020 flood