Petra Matthews, Submerged 23 (LANDSCAPE & ENVIRONMENT 2025)

I grew up near Victoria’s haunting Shipwreck Coast, where tales of lost vessels and forgotten journeys echoed through the years. The stories of these wrecks, coupled with my parents’ own migration from Europe by boat in the 1950s, stirred something deep within me. While creating a folio inspired by this coastline, I felt compelled to take my photography into the water—immersing myself in the very element that shaped these histories. What emerged was a series of images that became a folio in its own right, reflecting on the fate of passengers and sailors whose journeys ended in the unforgiving embrace of the sea.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.