The images from Under the Surface come from a summer 2007 festival held in Cromarty, (Sea Cromarty Sparkle), celebrating the sea as part of Scotland’s Year of Highland Culture. The exhibition was developed by Peter Tilbrook, a longstanding resident of Cromarty and a professional conservationist. He was keen on promoting a greater understanding and awareness of the marine ecosystem and how it should be managed / utilised. It struck him that so few people, including those who live around it, know what actually lives in the Moray Firth (apart from dolphins and seals), so he decided to mount an exhibition to try and fill this gap.
Using around 100 stunning images, mostly taken by professional photographers, 20 one metre square banners were created on various themes. These were mounted on buildings in Cromarty in order to make them more accessible to locals and visitors, making a visual tour round the village.
This project has been funded by The Crown Estate and the Moray Firth Partnership. Peter is a Director of the latter and he was keen that this exhibition should have a use beyond the Cromarty festival at other Moray Firth locations. Consequently the 20 banners have been designed to be non specific to Cromarty and useable anywhere around the Moray Firth. If you are visiting Cromarty, a free leaflet is available from all Cromarty shops, pubs etc. to explain more about the exhibition and show the location of the banners.
The exhibition has been organised by Peter Tilbrook with help from Ben Leyshon, John McNaught and George Brown. They are very grateful to the following photographers (particularly Sue Scott, who provided most of the pictures) for the use of their spectacular images – Sue Scott (suescott153@btinternet.com); George Brown (georgebrown@beeb.net); Paul Naylor(www.marinephoto.co.uk); Norman Nicoll (Norman T Nicoll / www.naturalvisions.co.uk); Scottish Natural Heritage. Other assistance provided by Marine Conservation Society (Seasearch). The banners and leaflet have been designed by John McNaught of the Highland Print Studio.
In order to give this exhibition further exposure, the 20 themed banners (plus an introductory promotional one) are here put on the Highland Biodiversity web site. You can view the images by clicking on the thumbnails to the right.
The banners could come to you!
If anyone around the Moray Firth is interested in using the banners, they are available to borrow from the Moray Firth Partnership. The exhibition can, of course, be mounted in one space outside (e.g. a town square) or inside a building. There is also the possibility that funding could be found for the production of paper versions of the banners at a slightly reduced scale for easier internal presentation.
The Moray Firth Partnership,
Great Glen House,
Leachkin Road,
Inverness, IV3 8NW.
Telephone: (01463) 225 530.
