LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND

Since 2007, visitors to Crosby Beach in Liverpool have been confronted with a curious sight: 100 life-size nude men, spread across the sands and almost stretching out to sea. Modelled after the nude form of artist Sir Antony Gormley, the ‘iron men’ of his installation, ‘Another Place’, were so lifelike that the coastguard was sometimes called out to ‘rescue’ them. Since becoming a permanent fixture on the beach 14 years ago, the sculptures are now beloved tourist attractions, drawing in tens of thousands of visitors each year.

Gormley says the installation harnesses the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man’s relationship with nature, yet it is this very relationship with nature that has put them at risk. Some have had their supports wither away owing to constant tides and shifting sands, leading them to plunge face-first into the mud. Originally designed to all face true west over the River Mersey Estuary, some have also moved position, leading to rescue efforts in 2019 to realign 51 statues.

This year the cast-iron figures have had new foundation pilings installed, designed to last at least another 25 years. Some ‘men’ stuck below the mud needed to be rescued, cleaned of barnacles, positioned in the right angle and welded to their new foundations.

Their 70-year-old creator believes they will now far outlast him, slowly turning into thin, Giacometti-like skeletons after centuries of wear. “I think of them as industrial fossils,” he said. “These are fossils of our species … I think they will still be around in 1,000 years and maybe longer.”

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Another artist turning the sand into his ‘canvas’ is David Hilliam (‘Beach Tagger’). His huge pieces have transformed Auckland’s beaches into breathtaking spectacles. mindfood.com/beach-art