An exhibition featuring fossils from Happisburgh beach is set to be unveiled at the Palace of Westminster.
The new exhibition, put together by Norfolk-based conservation charity Explorers Against Extinction, features ten artworks inspired by Happisburgh and hopes to raise awareness about the consequences of climate change through time.
It will bring together the work of renowned artists, including Turner Prize-winning artist Richard Deacon and his sculpture ‘Long in the Tooth’, which he created using fossils found on the beach at Happisburgh.
The exhibition will be displayed at the Palace of Westminster from April 15 to 19, hosted by Broadland MP Jerome Mayhew on behalf of the charity.
It will then tour the UK for the next year before going under the hammer to raise funds in support of the charity’s wider work to recover key species and restore ecosystems around the world.
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Deacon said: ”The four teeth describe a considerable stretch of time - they stand in for something that is now missing.
"Their disappearance was, in part, the consequence of climate change and of rising and falling sea levels, the evidence for which is powerfully present on the Norfolk coast.
"I put the four teeth onto four cut and polished seven-sided granite blocks. The pairing was perfect - celebratory yet with all the stately grace of granite memorials.”
Mr Deacon's piece has been on display at the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich where it has been on loan from the charity for the past six months as part of the sedimentary spirit exhibition.
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The new exhibition being unveiled in London also features artwork from Brazilian conservation photographer Sebastiao Salgado and British sculptor Emily Young.
Other contributing artists with work inspired by Happisburgh include David Nash, Eleanor Lakelin, Peter Randall-Page, Julian Stair , Jon Foreman, Andy Goldsworthy, Michael Pinsky, and Conrad Shawcross.
Other pieces in the collection reflect the charity’s international project work.
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