A maternal figure appeared in the sand on a Northumberland beach yesterday with the aim of helping families who have lost babies to process their grief.
The project was a collaboration between renowned North East sand artist Claire Eason of soul2sand; who has previously created artworks in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, King Charles' coronation and Remembrance Day; and Northumberland artist Rebecca Charlton. Rebecca and her husband Neil lost their son Jasper 19 weeks into the pregnancy during the Coronavirus pandemic and have moved from Leeds to the Northumberland coast.
The artwork on Alnmouth Beach attracted more than 50 people throughout the morning, many of whom wrote the names of their lost children in hearts on the sand, which surrounded an abstract maternal figure. From the first names being written just after 9am, people had around three hours to write their messages and then see them being taken away by the tide.
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However, for Claire, Rebecca and her husband Neil, it was a much longer morning, as they had arrived at the beach at 5am to prepare the artwork. Rebecca told ChronicleLive on Sunday: "It was just perfect, it was exactly what we wanted it to be.
"When we got home we were absolutely shattered, it was a lot of emotions for a lot of people and meeting new people that we've never met before just being so open and telling us these really emotional stories. It was a lot, but it was just great, exactly what we wanted."
The design wasn't easy to see from the beach, but Rebecca and Claire handed out photographs of what the design looked like on the day, and drone shots were taken from above to give the full effect. Rebecca said: "Everybody put their hands to their hearts straightaway, it's one of those things you don't need words for and I think it summarised people's feelings quite well.
Her husband Neil added: "I think it took people aback and the design was quite a great analogy in terms of the message we're trying to get across and people saw that straight away."
Once the tide started to wash away the design at around 11.30, it wasn't long before it was completely covered. Neil continued: "Alnmouth is quite a flat beach so when the tide comes in, it comes in quick. Everybody could see their part of the design and the names and the messages, there was that analogy of it going away but it's not because the grains of sand are still there."
Rebecca finished: "What was lovely was people could stand with their messages personally, and as the tide came in people had their moment of seeing the sea taking that away."
Claire Eason said in an earlier interview with ChronicleLive that she was "honoured" to be included in the project.
She posted on Twitter on Sunday afternoon: "Yesterday’s baby loss awareness event; short lives remembered by writing their names between the love ripples in the sand design. The arms are empty, with endless ripples of love and grief encircling the abstract figure."
As well as the artwork, which was funded by the Alnmouth Art Festival, Rebecca is highlighting the work of Sunderland-based charity 4Louis, which supports families through miscarriage, stillbirth and child loss. She is raising money for the charity at the following link.
