Into the depths of rough coastal seas

Over at Perth’s Fergusson Gallery is a new exhibition examining the mysterious underwater world.

The sea and the self are territories explored in Janeanne Gilchrist’s solo photography show,‘Above, Below, Beyond.

Edinburgh’s Janeanne was the 2016 JD Fergusson Arts Award winner and her work now being shown in Perth has the added allure of being actually seen for real.

She went free diving off the unpredictable coasts of Scotland, one breath at a time to observe the transient contents of the water, discarded cast-offs of fishermen and of man.

The photographic artist and image-maker searches out subjects: the spawning seaweed, the mesmerizing alien glow of a jellyfish, the stone-washed bones of a migratory bird, and in every image there is an otherworldliness. Janeanne also constructs balance capturing a sense of illusion and visual trickery common when below the surface, as in Structuralsm (pictured).

Shot alone out in the sea in the period after her mother’s death, the photographs in Above, Below, Beyond are also infused with submerged grief and evasive, finely textured feeling: the ghostly vulnerability of objects and clothing, carrying the disintegrating memories of their former purpose.

Having opened on November 18, the exhibition will be netting curious visitors to see floating objects and mysterious seascapes until March 2018.

A visit to the converted water tower by the South Inch park is a rewarding experience in itself.

The Fergusson Gallery holds the world’s largest collection of artwork by the renowned Scottish Colourist JD Fergusson. The Gallery also holds an associated archive, along with the archive of his lifelong companion, the pioneer of modern dance, Margaret Morris.

J D Fergusson was one of the most important and influential artists in Britain in the first half of the 20th century. Born in Edinburgh, with ancestral links to Perthshire, he spent much of his career in France and is now most associated with Scottish Colourist group.