Imports depicts an oil tanker entering Newcastle Harbour, its deck unusually burdened—not with crude oil, but with trees. These trees are drawn in the detailed, expressive style I’ve developed over time, recurring subjects that now take on a new context. This work asks a quiet but urgent question: What are we really importing and exporting?

Newcastle is a site of industry and movement, where fossil fuels dominate the landscape and the economy. By replacing oil with trees, this image offers a symbolic inversion—suggesting nature as both cargo and cost. The work invites viewers to consider not just the materials being shipped, but the ecological and cultural values that flow with them. Is it resources we move, or responsibilities?

Through the surreal juxtaposition, Imports highlights the tension between industrial systems and natural life, and challenges the notion of economic growth that ignores environmental cost. It’s a drawing rooted in place, but speaking to global cycles.