Fair Wear and Tear

Assembled from hull survey footage recorded between 2009 and 2021 at four European ports, acquired through a broker in Piraeus and through freedom of information requests.

The phrase in the title is a term of art in marine insurance. It marks the boundary between damage a policy covers and deterioration it does not, and it is decided by a surveyor standing in a hold with a camera and a torch, talking to themselves.

Ellul keeps that audio intact and cuts the picture to its rhythm. The five monitors are bracketed at the heights the surveyor was working at, between one and four metres, and are never dimmed or darkened. He does not use projection.

Supplied with five monitors, brackets, media players and an installation specification. Number 1 of 3.