The Ghost Boat series are monotype silkscreen prints created from several layers of gestural painting produced during the printing process which allows spontaneous abstract images to evolve. Although similar in form, colour and tone, each print is unique. Creating images in this way is an experimental process and exists somewhere between printing and painting.

I created the Ghost Boat series in  response to the plight of refugees and migrants, desperate people making perilous journeys, fleeing for their lives. These abstract monotypes are imaginings: the emotions, feelings and anxiety of crossing the seas with all you possess and holding on to the hope that you will survive. In this instance, I was following the ‘Ghost Boat Investigation’ by journalists Eric Reidy and Bobbie Johnson on the Medium blog site into the mysterious disappearance in 2014 of a boat carrying 243 Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, mostly women and children. An incredible, unusual story of a boat this size vanishing without leaving a trace.

The Ghost Boat’s disappearance was largely ignored in the media. Despite knowledge of the incident in Italy, (its intended destination), it took over a month for any story to appear in the press. Thousands of people take this dangerous route looking for peace and safety in Europe, but whatever happens — sinking boats, drownings, double-crossing smugglers — there is always evidence. Not in this case. But there were occasional clues. Odd phone calls, messages, rumours and possible leads.

Reidy and Johnson’s investigation into the boat’s disappearance began in July 2014, with a team of journalists and investigators working across the region. They also enlisted help from their followers and readers in an international open, crowdsourced, online investigation and published their findings in episodes on Medium. Sadly, neither the boat nor its passengers were ever found. The journalists ended the investigation in 2016. To find out more about the Ghost Boat Investigation, please click here.