Working directly on sea-facing walls, Hicks will create the illusion of a flimsy patchwork of found materials, as if someone with rudimentary carpentry skills had hastily assembled a barrier out of whatever came to hand, inviting visitors to interpret the result as they see it themselves. Is it merely an act of folly? Perhaps an inadequate response to rising sea levels, or a paranoid reinforcement against supposed invaders? Some onlookers may see The Fourth Wall as a comment on the need for ‘make do and mend’ resourcefulness during the cost of living crisis, or a critique on consumerism and wastefulness.

Hicks will create The Fourth Wall in two phases, the first in Hastings Contemporary’s Gallery 7, with the second taking over an entire wall in Gallery 6. The preliminary stage begins by marking out a geometric design, then masking off and painting different shades and colours to suggest different doors, panels and other materials that could be used to fashion a maskeshift barrier. The process of adding details then continues until the illusion of a ramshackle assortment of found materials is complete.