Shell Tide Pool, 2024
Annie Claflin

Media: Archival pigment print, salt, sand, resin, acrylic paint, and protective UV coating on cradled wood panel.
Size: 12" x 9" x 1.5"
Price: $1000

PROCESS
I boiled an archival pigment print in salt water and affixed it with acrylic paint and resin to a painted cradled wood panel filled with sand and resin.

STATEMENT
Undertow imagines near and distant futures where photographic prints, abandoned on the beach, are reshaped by the rising ocean and its final retreat. This speculative vision is rooted in a personal reality: witnessing the erosion of the Maine seaside community where I grew up. As the coastline recedes and homes flood or disappear, I turn to image-making to process this immediate and anticipated loss. Combining framed photographs and photographic objects of various scales, Undertow reflects on our collective vulnerability to sea level rise.
This work helps me process the fear of losing my homescape to the ocean and echo my impulse to preserve the vanishing seashore. Just as beachgoers gather shells or driftwood, I collect and conserve fragments of my shoreline. By altering these images, I reinterpret my past, present, and future relationship with the coast. Undertow invites audiences to mourn so that we can confront climate change for our generation and the next.

BIO
Annie Claflin is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Diego, California, whose work centers on the photographic medium. Her art focuses on themes of family, home, and identity, often intertwining these personal narratives with explorations of mental health. Through a blend of straight photography and altered photographs, Claflin crafts imagery that invites viewers into her inner monologue, offering a profound glimpse into her relentless search for sanctuary amidst psychological unrest.. Claflin graduated from New England School of Photography, holds a BFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art + Design (garnering the award for Media Arts during her matriculation), and an MS in Arts Administration from Boston University. Her artwork has been published in Analog Forever Magazine and The Boston Globe, and included in exhibitions at Chung 24 Gallery, San Francisco; The Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA; and The Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA; Los Angeles Center of Photography, Los Angeles; and Techne Art Center, Oceanside, CA, among others. In 2023, 2024, and 2025 Claflin was included in Photolucida’s Critical Mass Top 200 photographers and was a finalist in the Royal Photographic Society’s International Photographic Exhibition 165 in 2023. Her photograph was juried as a third-place award winner at the American Photographic Artists San Diego’s Untitled 2022 exhibition. One of her images was placed as a finalist for The Kuala Lumpur Photo Awards in 2021. She has been interviewed about her practice for The Boston Metro newspaper and the Too Tired Project online.