Stephen Melton

Raja Clavata (new commission for Margate Rocks 08)

Liaising with a local charter angler and specialists within various fishing agencies, universities and DEFRA, Melton is putting together information to form a poster to be distributed locally. He intends the poster to be educational, to be able to increase public awareness and to open a debate on the sustainability of the current fishing policies.

It singles out the Thornback Ray (Raja Clavata) which is prevalent in the Thames Estuary. Though it is not currently dying out, it could be endangered shortly; numbers have decreased by over 50% in the past 50 years and various colonies have depleted throughout the UK*. There is opinion though that if the Thames Estuary is continually heavily fished, this will have a detrimental effect on this species.

The visual tools he uses draw upon etchings and ‘display of truths’ made by naturalists through the ages, creating a paradox with the conflicting opinions collected. In fact, this is the crux of the piece. Despite our scientific progress, educated opinions on various natural plights that the globe is facing, continue to be paradoxical and contradictory, leaving the concerned bystander feeling confused, uncertain of what to believe.

Combing Victorian use of typographical display with modern typographical tools, the poster will be distributed to schools, libraries, places of education as well as tackle and fish & chip shops.

*_{Migratory behaviour of the Thornback ray, Raja Clavata, in the southern North Sea: Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: 2005: 85: p1095.}

About the Artist

Stephen Melton’s current practice discusses the human impact on the natural world, both in an historical and contemporary context. Using current scientific research as his primary source of information, Stephen Melton responds in what can be described as a controversial way.

There is an uncomfortable paradox created. The artist collects species that are already being depleted, therefore one could argue contributing in a small way to the negative impact human kind are already creating, but he also venerates the natural world in a statuary way, implying a great importance and relevance to it and highlighting the atrocities that are continuing. This creates a visual jarring for the viewer.

_{Top: Image courtesy the artist. Right: installation of Raja Clavata, bronze, Margate Rocks 08. Photography © Simon Welsford}