Pett Level

​

_________________________________________________________________________

​

A weird beach in East Sussex that featured in the iconic David Bowie video for 'Ashes to Ashes'.

 

I visited Pett Level before I knew about the connection to David Bowie. The tide was out and it was a freezing cold day, my birthday, in March a few years ago. The beach was sprawling, vast and deserted with any echoes of summer long driven away by the sleet and wind of late winter.  I was intrigued and immediately drawn to the place. I later found out about the connection to Bowie in a chance conversation with a friend on Instagram and so his music was very much in my mind when I returned two years later, to make this series.

​

______________________________________________________

​

Time and again I tell myself

I'll stay clean tonight

But the little green wheels are following me
Oh no, not again
I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"

One flash of light but no smoking pistol

 

[David Bowie, 'Ashes to Ashes', 1980]

 

​