Ruth Mulvie – at Saltdean Lido
Hi Ruth – Can you tell us about the venue you are exhibiting in this May?
This year, I’m really excited to announce that I am exhibiting at Saltdean Lido – described by English Heritage as “One of the Seven Wonders of the English Seaside”!
How did this come about? And has it led you to make work specifically relevant to this location?
This project has been years in the making! I used to teach out at Peacehaven and watched for years as the lido had slipped into disrepair and abandonment. As I drove past, I was aware that the local community were raising funds to keep the lido open and to restore it to its former glory.
I’ve loved exhibiting – firstly at Colonnade House (a beautiful Regency building and gallery space in Worthing), and then as part of the Brighton Artists Open Houses at 1 Courtyard Lane around the beautiful bijou kidney-shaped pool there.
Saltdean Lido felt like the next level up, and I kept reaching out to ask if they would like to work with me on a show. Finally, after my exhibition last year in the Whispering Gallery at Shoreham Airport, the Lido team and I connected and made plans for this show.
When I first toured the site, I knew I wanted the paintings to be seen against a backdrop of turquoise blue. The wings of the main lido building, sheltered by the naturally curved overhang, felt like the perfect place to situate the work.
How did you discover the stories connected to the lido?
I wanted to mark the history and heritage of the lido as a core part of the work. It was important for me that local people with authentic connections to the space felt included in the project – not just as passive viewers, but as part of the creative process.
Using poetry, audio, or letters is a part of my creative practice – working from words gives me the freedom to imagine, exaggerate or embellish ideas. The heritage audio recordings were so special. I remember the first time I listened to them and made notes – they were so evocative, I knew straight away that it was these fragments I wanted to draw upon in the work.
Can you tell us a bit about your work more generally and the influence of memory and nostalgia?
Great question! I was talking to someone at the weekend about memory, and how I experience it as a fleeting sense of colour – not just visually but in a wholly sensory way… the wetness and coldness of an old lido floor, the smell of the drains, the look of a bit of hair disappearing in the water, the feeling of a wet sock on a not-quite-dried foot.
I think because I grew up in the 80s, my memories are coloured in high saturation. I’m not sure if that’s the same for Gen Z. Even the cars in the 80s had a different palette, sweet wrappers were brighter, bigger, more RGB than they are now. We live in a world where the palette can often feel silver-grey or beige – and that’s not where I draw my inspiration.
I often look to old film or Kodachrome – colours were saturated, bright, fluorescent… extra blue, green, cyan. For me, pulling this apart and creating these shapes and colours on the canvas is so exciting.
Have there been previous locations for your work that have influenced you in a similar way?
I am my work. All of the locations I experience and enjoy are seen through a lens I want to interpret. I love visiting California, but I also enjoyed a recent trip to Miami.
I like places in the way that Hockney described Californian light – where the shadows and colours are strong and saturated. Blown out.
What are you most hoping visitors will experience and gain from engaging with your work, especially in this location?
I mostly just hope they enjoy it. I hope it brings them joy, and that the colours trigger some good memories. Someone once said my paintings were like “a holiday for the eyes” – I hope this show is the summer getaway they needed.
Visit Ruth Mulvie at:
Ruth Mulvie X Saltdean Lido
The Oval Park, Saltdean Park Road, Saltdean, BN2 8SP
No.7 on the Coastal trail
