TEETH OF THE SEA
TEETH OF THE SEA
CREDITS
Brooklyn-based photographer Maggie Shannon documents life on the small island where she grew up, focusing on the relationship that residents have with the ocean, using the popular movie Jaws (shot on Martha’s Vineyard in 1975) as a cultural and visual landmark in her project. The island Martha’s Vineyard lays off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, requiring a forty-five minute ferry ride to gain access. A popular tourist destination, the island is overwhelmed with visitors during the summer months, but during the off-season it reverts back to its state as a lonely seaside town, and the population drops by more than half.
Islanders’ interactions with the water that surrounds them varies from the economical and recreational to the mystical as the ocean simultaneously provides financial security, enjoyment, beauty, isolation, and danger. The photographs record places and scenes central to the storyline of Jaws, exploring ideas and relationships inspired by these events. Shannon has mixed fact and fiction, myth and reality, and past and present to shape and inform a narrative about islanders’ relationship with the ocean. Teeth of the Sea is less about Martha’s Vineyard itself and is instead more involved in examining the ambiguous and deeper aspects of our complex relationship with the sea.
Maggie Shannon’s project Teeth of the Sea was included among the winners for the 2014 edition of Magnum’s 30 Under 30 award.
