Completely honoured to host this exhibition in our window and massively inspired by all these people in our community. Artist Window Takeover by @katiesollohub
"IMMERSED 2021 is an art project about cold water swimming and wellbeing. Since March I have swum with, photographed and painted at least 55 sea swimmers, from quick dippers to channel swimmers, in Shoreham-by-Sea and beyond.
Asking myself the question - What makes us want to immerse ourselves in the sea every day? Collectively what unites us? Creatively how can art bring people together? All the portraits are done on the beach, straight after a swim. Most days have been sunny, though often chilly. They are all painted on 12cm square paper using water colours, with water from the sea. Sometimes I do more than one, the second one much more quickly.
This is about a shared experience, an exchange. There is a soft attention, a tenderness, that affects both the person being painted and me, the painter. After swimming there is a heightened sense of awareness. I notice this in both the portraits I make of others and the self portraits, which I do every day on my return from the sea"
