caroline baum

Snail Songlines

Since moving to the Illawarra coast in 2003 I've become a beachcomber, exploring the eroded platforms rich in minerals and marine life. At low tide, I've found a modest colony of unassuming creatures who move incredibly slowly, creating intricate patterns in the sand.

Each day, the lacework made by these creatures changes; sometimes it is loose, like an erratically woven fabric of irregular Celtic knots, at other times, it is more tightly knit, a denser filigree mesh of pathways. I call it Snail Songlines.

This website gives you the opportunity to browse photographs from my Snail Songlines exhibition. The thumbnails on the gallery page click through to larger high-resolution images, although even these can't do them complete justice. You're welcome to order prints online.

I've also created a range of fabric designs based on the snail photographs. You can order the MOLLUSC collection of silk chiffon scarves online or contact me about special commissions.

"The woman who most people would imagine to be irretrievably metropolitan, with her nose forever in the latest and most difficult books, has instead immersed herself in the rich life of the seashore, with characteristically startling and interesting results ... a series of astonishingly lovely abstract photographs of the intricate trails left by foraging 'molluscs' in the wet sand of receding tides." Diana Simmonds, Sunday Telegraph.