A COLOURFUL multi-media exhibition has been launched which explores the powerful mental and physical wellbeing and inspiration people draw from seas, rivers and lochs.
Running until August, it is now open at the Scottish Fisheries Museum on Anstruther Harbour in the East Neuk of Fife.
The exhibition is a collaboration between postgraduate students at the University of St Andrews and the Scottish Fisheries Museum. It is entitled Seaside: Heritage, Healing and New Horizons and looks at our centuries-old fascination with our seas, rivers and lochs as a place for healing and artistic inspiration.
Highlights include paintings, seaside photographs, reminiscences and vintage swimming costumes.
Scottish Fisheries Museum curator Linda Fitzpatrick said: “We have an innate human response to water. It makes us feel better physically and mentally and has inspired poets, writers and visual artists for centuries as well as provided a livelihood for fisherfolk.
“We may not be dipping our toes in the water to alleviate ‘melancholy caused by an excess of black bile’ like the Victorians but we do know that immersing ourselves in the sights and sounds of our blue space can lower stress levels, improve our mood, benefit our body and mind and inspire creativity."
Mattea Gernentz of St Andrew’s University added: “The exhibition simultaneously directs our gaze outwards and inwards, urging us to consider how blue spaces have impacted our creativity, growth and wellbeing, as well as pointing out ways the sea has served as a means of both leisure and livelihood.”
Advance booking is required. Tickets are available at www.scotfishmuseum.org.
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