As is the Sea - An Anthology

As is the Sea is a collection of art criticism, cultural analysis, memoir and fiction by MA students from the Critical Writing in Art & Design programme at the Royal College of Art. Started as a collaboration with Philip Hoare - author of Leviathan, or the Whale (Samuel Johnson Prize, 2009) and The Sea Inside (2013) - the anthology sifts through the ocean’s strata, descending page by page from the sunlit surface to the darkest abyss.

The individual journeys in and across open water address our multifaceted relationship with the sea through the films, cultural artefacts and artworks it inspires, and the rituals and traditions that develop alongside it. As is the Sea draws on what we love, fear, disregard, are in awe of and long for from the sea.

The texts from seventeen writers are accompanied by a foreword from Philip Hoare and nine illustrations, including a postcard insert, from students and alumni of the Royal College of Art.

Designed by Luke Griffiths and Remy-Alban Valton As is the Sea is a pocket-sized paperback, perfect bound and lithographically printed by Lecturis on Munken Polar. Divided into four parts, each section of the book has been marked with a specific tone creating an overall gradient that mirrors the descent through the corresponding layers of the sea.

108 × 178 mm,
232 pages, £8
ISBN 978-1-907342-85-1

Images © Dominic Hawgood