Plague Ships

In April 2020, as the world locked down, cruise liners began to appear off the South Devon coastline. These vast floating palaces, created and dedicated to excessive consumption, were made redundant by a small respiratory virus. With no passengers, skeleton crews and nowhere to go, there were always between six and 12 of them looming just beyond the shoreline.

At first they were absolutely beautiful, sleek lines cutting through the grey waters. But, as lockdown went on, was lifted, was reimposed, as the months passed, the sight of them became more and more oppressive, a constant reminder always within sight that there was something fundamentally awry with the world. They stayed for almost two years, haunting us.