A Fish Out of Water is the debut solo exhibition of a two-year photographic project documenting the end-of-life recycling of a 5000-ton Royal Navy tanker, commissioned by Arts Council England and the National Glass Centre.

Ships are the workhorses of globalisation. Built to last and to survive the rigors of a life at sea, they require huge amounts of energy and force to be dismantled at the end of their working lives. Their structures contain vast quantities of hazardous materials and at the end of the ship's life, these materials become reanimated, problematic and dangerous.

Working in collaboration with social scientist, Professor Nicky Gregson, Tim Mitchell spent 2 years observing and documenting the rigorous and problematic physical process of ‘breaking’ a ship in a country where health & safety and environmental protection are paramount. Currently, through loopholes in the law, most EU ships are broken up on the beaches of Asia at huge cost to life and surrounding environment. Why are more of our own ships not broken here in the EU? Is this even feasible?

The exhibition here will bring together a mixture of large-scale contemporary and traditional photographic prints, physical evidence from the ship itself, a two year time-lapse film and an accompanying publication, together creating a broad document made up of contrasting forms and perspectives, with the intention of sparking debate and reflection upon Sunderland and the North East’s past, present and future relationship with a globalised shipping industry.