Balcony, Low Tide

I made this piece in the hours after a long call home, when the Atlantic sun was at its most forgiving. I kept thinking about distance—not just the ocean, but the layers between what we show and what’s just out of sight. I started with the louvres: they’re everywhere in houses along the coast, letting in light but also holding it back, carving up the view. I wanted the lines to feel carved, almost stubborn, like the ribs of a boat or a fence you lean on to watch the world pass. The ferry ticket is real, from a trip years ago, and I inked the tide chart by hand so it felt urgent—not scientific, more like a memory that might wash away. The umbrella is there but not, a color more than a thing. What it cost me was letting the sun in, when I mostly want to keep it out. There’s longing here, but I hope you can rest in the light.

Critical Reception

Vivian Sorel

Let’s dispense with sentimentality: Nyemba’s 'Boundary Groove' is the rare instance where material humility and pictorial ambition strike a taut, fruitful stalemate. The battered driftwood frame—blue-and-cream, sun-worn, pirogue hull reincarnated—does not simply enclose the image…

9/10overall