The Oyster as Urban Talisman
The oyster shell, collected from the tidelines of Whitstable, became my chosen talisman and vehicle for urban observation. Its layered surface holds centuries of overlapping narratives- ecological, cultural, and material- that stretch from Roman trade to present-day restoration. These shells, shaped by water and time, carry a quiet but persistent memory of the coast. Today, oysters return not only as food, but as agents of regeneration- filtering water, stabilizing shorelines, and forming habitats through the shells of their ancestors.
What draws me to oysters is this cyclical potential. What was once discarded becomes a foundation for new life. Through restoration methods like cultch deployment and spat-on-shell, broken shells are returned to the sea, forming structures that support the next generation. This process, where the remnants of the past seed the future, feels rich with metaphor for how we might rebuild more broadly- layering memory rather than erasing it.
For this project, I created two casts. The first, made from plaster, presents a single shell in relief. Its clean surface makes visible the individual layers shaped over time- a way to read the past clearly and hold it still. The second, cast in resin, is formed from crushed oyster shells. It speaks to building the new directly from the old: fragments suspended together, memory embedded within material, forming something solid and continuous.
In the oyster shell, I see a kind of quiet infrastructure. One that remembers, shelters, and rebuilds. Not just for oysters, but as a way for us to reflect on how we hold history, and how we might carry it forward.
To deepen this connection, I photographed the casts along the banks of the Thames. These oysters, though gathered in Whitstable, originate from the Thames Estuary—once home to vast native oyster reefs that linked coastal towns to the capital. The shell becomes a bridge between places, a record of their shared ecological history. Positioning the casts on the edge of the river places them back into context, suggesting that regeneration is not only a coastal concern but a necessary act within urban centres like London. Here, where water meets the city, memory and material can begin to re-layer, offering new ground for restoration.