Camps Bay 10 (Cape Town, South Africa)
In Camps Bay 10, Chase Langford transforms the dramatic geography of South Africa’s Atlantic coast into a densely layered abstract landscape. Camps Bay lies beneath the Twelve Apostles and Table Mountain, where steep landforms descend toward the cold waters of the Atlantic. Langford evokes this meeting of mountain and sea through an intricate accumulation of irregular shapes that seem to shift between geological strata, rocky shoreline, water, and map.
Broad passages of white give the composition an unusual luminosity, while turquoise and aqua suggest the surrounding ocean. Against these cooler expanses, saturated pinks, rusts, oranges, and deep earthen browns create a vibrant visual countercurrent. The waters off Camps Bay are strongly influenced by the Benguela upwelling system. Summer winds bring cold, nutrient-rich water toward the surface, supporting abundant phytoplankton and the rich marine ecosystem characteristic of the Cape Peninsula. Kelp forests thrive along this coastline, providing habitat for fish and invertebrates, while the broader region supports Cape fur seals, African penguins, and seasonal whales.