Tacita Dean

Underlying this work is Tacita Dean's attempt to reconstruct events surrounding the death of Donald Crowhurst at sea. The facts, dating from 1968, make up the confusing and bizarre story of a man who, having left his wife and children and as though desperately longing to achieve something great, yet inexperienced and poorly prepared, sets out on a journey around the world, with great encouragement from local businesses and authorities, and then drowns. In a poetic manner, Dean's film touches on the sense of increasing loneliness and disorientation that this man must have experienced. The sound of the lighthouse is a supportive element behind the images, and the perception of that sound seems to shift, for the viewer, from reality to imagination.