Berkshire art exhibition highlights swimming danger
'Bodies of water' is a youth safety project supported by the Royal Berkshire fire and rescue service
A new art exhibition which aims to help young people visualise the risks associated with swimming in unsupervised bodies of water has opened at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
The overall aim of the ‘Bodies of Water’ exhibition is to promote an improved understanding of water as an unpredictable force of nature that can take lives.
The artwork was produced as part of a project with Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS), in an effort to improve water safety education, following a number of devastating drownings in the county.
Staff from South Hill Park Arts Centre designed a project that would be co-created by young people to deliver the message in a creative and exciting way.
The 200-year-old camera-less recording process known as ‘cyanotype’ was chosen to create the artwork. Cyanotype is known for its blue colour and has been imaginatively adapted to reflect meaningful messages about water safety.
Textile Artist Hermione Thomson, was commissioned to work with Year 10 textiles students at King’s Academy Binfield. Hermione organised a series of workshops to co-create the artwork, and the students visited Bracknell Fire Station to gain an in-depth understanding of the risks associated with our waterways and what equipment and training fire and rescue service staff use when called to incidents.
As a part of their work experience programme, Creative Media Production students from Bracknell and Wokingham College also took photographs and filmed the creation of the artwork at each stage of its development.
Dave Crease, Group Manager, RBFRS, said:
“We approached staff at South Hill Park Arts Centre as we wanted their expertise in how we could better engage with young people around the issue of water safety.
“As a fire and rescue service we have been called to a number of tragic incidents on Berkshire’s waterways, and we were keen to explore the use of art to illustrate the dangers of swimming in unsupervised bodies of water.”
Textile Artist Hermione Thomson, said:
“It has been a privilege to work alongside such a talented group of people to create a meaningful and educational body of work using the Cyanotype process. The exhibition hopes to raise awareness of the dangers surrounding open water.”
The final artwork will be on display in the Grand Staircase at South Hill Park Arts Centre. The exhibition is free to attend and will run until Sunday, 25 June 2023.