On The Shore
A visual art and literature collaboration between poet, novelist and activist Ben Okri, and artists Ackroyd & Harvey.
Over ten days in 2021 Ackroyd & Harvey grew a grassy pelt 16 metres long from a bed of woven hessian stretched across the floor of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.
Imprinted into its surface were the words of the Booker prize-winning poet and novelist Ben Okri, written in response to the urgency of the climate crisis.
His desperate plea, “CAN’T YOU HEAR THE FUTURE WEEPING? OUR LOVE MUST SAVE THE WORLD ” was spelled out in fluorescent yellow, made distinct from the surrounding green by masking the grass beneath the letters and preventing them from photosynthesising.