Season: autumn
The long, sandy Crosby beach looks out over Crosby Channel and the busy shipping lanes to and from Liverpool. Perhaps appropriately then, it’s the location for artist Antony Gormley’s “Another Place”, comprising a hundred cast iron lifesize figures, each in the image of the artist. These “iron men” are placed at different points in the tide run and look out to sea, as many people do at the beach. Many of the figures are therefore barnacled and weathered. Some have bracelets and human decoration and they are popular as photographic opportunities for visitors. They don’t appear incongruous, adding their own resonance to the question “What does the beach mean to you?”.
What the beach means to Darrin.
A view of the beach from the promenade.
Down by the water’s edge at low tide.
We went to see the sculptures and I didn’t realise there were so many. It shows what the sea can do over time, all the barnacles, but then everything passes eventually, doesn’t it?