Art, Memory & the Sea
Art, Memory & the Sea
A weekend in Cornwall that rekindled my love for coastal art
Written by Saira Kalimuddin
This weekend I went to Cornwall with my family – my dad was up from Singapore and staying with us for a couple of weeks so we decided to book a trip that was in line with one of his favourite programmes, Rick Stein’s Cornwall.
We stayed in a little town called Lelant, close to the artistic hub of St Ives. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, which meant the full experience of sun-drenched beaches and harbour fronts. The trip for me evoked a sense of retreat, wildness and memory.
As many of you know, I grew up in Singapore, which is an island surrounded by the sea. Smelling the salty air of Cornwall reminded me of my childhood, and brought back many memories of playing in the sand and sea.
We returned to Bristol last night and today as I come back to cataloguing our paintings, I’ve felt an urge to re-look at the Cornish paintings we have in our collection, as well as our seascapes in general.
As we walked around Carbis bay on Saturday and St Ives on Sunday, I noticed the way the sunlight reflected off the sea and pale sand, creating a luminous quality that brought both colour and texture to light. It became very clear to me why artists like painting the Cornish coastline, with its rugged cliffs, secluded coves, wide sandy beaches and working harbours.
Fishing boats, weathered harbours, and coastal cottages speak to a lived-in landscape. It makes sense that artists find meaning in depicting these local communities, their work, and the rhythms of the sea, making the art feel grounded and narrative-rich.
On Sunday we also took a boat trip out from St Ives and as I watched the dramatic cliffs open up to us and felt the splash of salty water in my face, I recalled the painting ‘Coastal Path’ by Ian Mood that we have in our collection (see image of painting below).
It’s amazing the way a completely abstract painting like the one above can so accurately capture a ‘feeling’. The movement, dynamism, and ruggedness of the painting and its texture encapsulate everything I felt while on the boat.
It made me think that art is such a brilliant way of preserving experiences that we need help containing. Art edits down complexity and helps us to focus, albeit briefly, on the most meaningful aspects.
Why does art matter to us? It helps us to hold on to things we love when they are gone. It might not capture the realistic details of the memory, but it captures and preserves the ‘essence’ and ‘spirit’ of it, which is a hard one to pin down in words.
-End-
On a Separate Note
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