In his quest for inspiration and artistic enlightenment, the artist embarks on voyages into the unknown, picking up various stimuli along the way. Like a seafarer, he looks at the horizon in anticipation of what lies beyond. Norbert Attard’s photographic work “In the Offing” consists of 12 seperate panels. At first glance, the work transmits a sense of tranquillity. The cleverly aligned horizons in the composite exude a sense of calm, a calm that belies the tension of the unknown and the possibility of a pending discovery. The ragged edges of the cave opening in one of the panels creates a nice balance to the pattern created by the repeated horizons in the first. The title of the piece itself “In the Offing” is perhaps a reference to Joseph Beuys piece entitled “New Beginnings are in the Offing”, a photographic work that concerns the beginning of demand for North Sea oil and environmental protection issues. Indeed, we are living in an era where environmental issues connected to the sea always seem to be “in the offing”.