Going Away From Here

H. Jennings Sheffield welcomes inquiries regarding acquiring limited edition books, exhibiting work from this project, and appropriate licensing opportunities.

Book: 16 5/8” x 11 3/8” x 1 5/8”
Clamshell: 17 3/8” x 12 ½” x 3 1/8”
Edition: Edition of 15 numbered, plus 2 hors commerce
Date: 2022
Price: Contact the artist for the price and purchase

About the Book
“Going Away from Here” is a collection of images that sheds light upon the concern of ongoing land loss. These images are of Tangier Island located off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay, which is progressively being claimed by the waters surrounding it an average of nine acres every year. Predicted to be one of America’s first “climate change refugees,” the residents will be forced to evacuate, and we will lose an entire culture of people as unique as their dialect. This deeply religious island has already been split by the Bay’s waters, which now seep up through the ground below. Tangier is not alone and sadly tells the tale many low-lying cities around the world are facing in the next 80 years. This book asks the viewer to think about the difficult decisions that stand before us—how will we decide who and what is worth saving, and who are we willing to let wash away into the water?

This limited-edition Dos-à-Dos book contains 30 images printed on Canson Edition Etching Rag, plus 2 additional free-standing prints on Somerset Velvet encased in a custom die-cut envelope with foil-stamp. The Dos-à-Dos structure includes two chapters – Chapter 1 containing 15-black & white prints, and Chapter 2 containing 15-color prints. All images are archival pigment prints, tipped into the book, and are overlayed with Thai Unruhu paper. The fine-art prints are both art and an informative representation of Tangier Island’s story. Quotes from Tangier residents also accompany the images giving a voice to the islanders. The quotes were taken through interviews conducted from 2017–2021. All photographs are captured and printed by H. Jennings Sheffield from 2017–2022. The hand-made paper is commissioned from Twinrocker Handmade Paper in Brookston, Indiana. The book is letterpress printed on a Vandercook Universal III press. The typography, presswork, and edition are bound by Black Hare Studio. The Forward, Residual Testimony, is written by writer and curator Liz Wells.

Intro to book written by Liz Wells, writer, curator and lecturer on photographic practices.

Residual – that which remains.
Testimony – formal statements; evidence.

Photographs indicate that which once was. We view them now, knowing that we are looking at something as it was then. Landscapes may seem familiar, or intriguingly different. Images may entice us to explore sites and circumstances previously not known to us.

But what if that which once was, is no longer there? What if photographs have become residual, all that remains. Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay offers one such example. 93 miles from Washington DC, accessible by boat rather than by car, the contrast between the Capitol and the island could not be starker. Tangier is a crabbing community whose sustainability is under threat from sea rise and storms, and from dwindling numbers of residents and economic opportunities. It is one of many disappearing islands in the Bay. Families date back many generations, maintaining a unique culture and dialect that allegedly dates from 1806, when naval ships from Devon and Cornwall, South-West England, happened to land there, establishing a military fort that has long since been embraced by the sea. Saltwater intrusion has extended existing marshlands rendering much of the land non-productive in terms of food self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, storm erosion has disturbed the seabed, threatening the shellfish that provide work for watermen and supply the seafood restaurants that are core to the summer tourist economy as well as crabs and oysters for export to the Capitol that is near, yet culturally so distant.

Photographing over a period of four years, H. Jennings Sheffield documented place, artefacts, and community, exploring a culture that is vulnerable. Using monochrome as well as colour, she investigated the island as a particular place and type of community. That her photographs are shot from a low camera position, maintaining the horizon well above the middle of her pictures, contributes to emphasising flat lands threatened by rising waters. Houses may be raised on stilts, but the grasses flourish at the same level as waterways snaking through them. Tombstones represent history as well as commemorating personal loss; yet the cemeteries themselves risk becoming engulfed.

First impressions influence our sense of place. In this book, our response is partly determined by whether we arrive via the nostalgia often associated with black and white images or via the brightness of colour. Succinct written statements, including quotes from interviews with residents, add depth to the visual narratives. The American flag and post office sign are self-evident, but the idea of inhabitants gathering daily to collect mail, share news and pass time with neighbours becomes vivid through the words. More poignantly, we learn that a small crucifix pinned on a roadside telephone pole references a greater cultural problem, and that the crab house that has slipped into the water is one of many that were devastated by a hurricane, with ensuing loss of livelihood. A seawall was constructed to defend the harbour, crucial protection for ferry services and fishing boats, but for how long?

H. Jennings Sheffield’s images evoke an island community in process of sinking into history.

Without photography there would be no legacy, no residual testimony.