MudOriginal Photo Series

Mud is an ongoing project documenting the Isle of Sheppey, a small coastal island located off the North Kent coast in the Thames estuary.

Ben began visiting Sheppey around 2019, initially drawn to its stark landscapes, wind-swept coastline, and the remnants of abandoned and decaying industry.

Like much of coastal Britain, Sheppey has been hit hard by increasing economic inequality, with a population struggling under years of deprivation and crumbling infrastructure in desperate need of investment. The island, like much of the British coastline, is also slowly being eroded by the sea, with the government having deemed intervention too costly. As a result, homes along the north shore are regularly claimed by the encroaching tides.

In many ways, Sheppey serves as a microcosm of the contemporary economic and social challenges facing the U.K.—an island grappling with a declining tourism trade, traditional industries made obsolete in a global economy, and a community wary of outsiders and resistant to change.