The beaches around Brighton are some of the busiest in the country. Yet the local water board, Southern Water, has the worst environmental record in the UK and sewage releases occur regularly along the area’s coast line.

The sewers that feed into the sea were originally supposed to be used after once in a lifetime storms. Instead, they pollute the sea throughout the year, often in fine weather.

The Council considers the period from the first day of May to the last day of October as the beach’s Bathing Season. All the photos in this exhibition were taken in the days immediately after a sewage release and form a record of all the days that we have been unable to swim due to Southern Water’s actions.

Tolly is a photographer and documentary maker based in Brighton. Following the advice of Don McCullin to look on one’s own doorstep for inspiration, his work looks at local stories that feed into global narratives - whether that be decaying political systems, epilepsy or sea sewage.

His work has been shown in the FT, the Guardian and the BBC. His project MoreThanSeizures also sits in the UAL permanent art collection.