"Vanishing Point" sculpture

Vanishing Point

Public Sculpture + Learning Center | 2021 | Thames Estuary, UK

Vanishing Point is a two-part public artwork that reimagines the Thames Estuary through deep-time ecological memory and speculative climate futures. Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery and Metal, the project includes a floating sculpture anchored in the Estuary and a learning center on Southend Pier. Together, they examine the estuary’s shifting plant life across millions of years, reflecting on what the past can teach us about regeneration in the face of accelerating climate change.

The installation centers the Nipa palm, a plant that once grew along this shoreline during the Cenozoic Era: when Earth’s CO₂ levels last approached those we now face. As the sculpture rises and falls with the tides, it suggests a return, a resurfacing, and a warning. Through both physical presence and public engagement, Vanishing Point invites viewers to think with plants, with water, and with time itself.

Project Details

• Year: 2021
• Location: Southend-on-Sea, Thames Estuary, United Kingdom
• Commissioned by: Focal Point Gallery and Metal
• Components: Floating sculpture, public learning center, zine publication, tidal installation
• Materials: Steel scaffolding, organic forms, mudflats, tidal currents, fossil plant references
• Themes: Geologic time, climate change, tidal ecologies, estuarial memory, speculative botany

“I wanted to imagine a plant from 50 million years ago re-emerging in today’s climate, not as fossil but as witness. The Nipa palm once thrived in this estuary. As CO₂ levels rise again to those ancient extremes, what could it mean for that palm to return—not just biologically, but symbolically? Vanishing Point was an invitation to think through the lens of deep time, to sit with the tides, and to learn from plants that have survived massive environmental shifts. The sculpture and learning center asked people to reimagine the coastline—not as static edge, but as evolving threshold.” - Mary Mattingly

Installation Description

The project was installed in two parts:

• The Floating Sculpture:
  Emerging from the estuary mud at high tide and partially submerged at low tide, the sculpture depicted the Nipa palm, an ancient estuarial plant adapted to warm, wet climates. The form was supported by scaffolding, as if in re-growth or restoration—its presence ghostlike and speculative, rooted in both fossil records and future possibility.
• The Learning Center on Southend Pier:
  An interactive public space for ecological learning, the center presented historical records of estuarial plant life, especially from the Eocene Epoch, when global CO₂ levels reached 1,000 parts per million—what current climate models predict for the end of this century if emissions remain unchecked. The center offered a local-to-global framework, connecting community science with climate speculation.