Holly. 20. Fine Art student. 

I was brought up going to Lafrowda in St Just, or Mazey Day. That’s ‘Golowan’ in Cornish, which means ‘midsummer’, so it’s a midsummer festival. And also May Day, Beltane – I’ve come here to this stone circle before when I was a child and danced around the maypole… I remember being May Queen once. That was very much part of my childhood and I think maybe that’s why I’m drawn to those ancient cultures in my artwork, because I spent growing up celebrating them as well. It’s kind of tricky when you’re a teenager and nothing’s really cool, but I definitely think in the last few years I’ve gotten back in touch with celebrating why these things are here and why it’s actually so important to Cornish culture, rather than seeing them as just a stone in the ground. There’s often 18 or 19 stones in every stone circle – it’s something to do with the lunar cycles. It is thought that they’re used as calendars in some senses. I guess it’s kind of just to celebrate the earth and have a little space for rituals. 

I grew up near Lands End, a little village called St Levan. Tiny place, no street lights or anything. It was very isolating, but also being surrounded by nature and by the sea, living by the sea growing up, I was really privileged to have that, you know? In summer I’d spend every day down the beach and I’d just be able to walk home. The fact I was brought up here has influenced my artwork and how nature-oriented it is. I do a lot of textiles and ceramics and lots on the natural world, but through symbols. These pieces here are all inspired by ancient artworks from the Neolithic period, prehistory. I have kind of been researching a lot about ancient pottery and ancient artwork and the symbols they used and what they could mean; no-one really knows what they mean. A lot of it is to do with solar cycles and celestial things. ‘Paths of Golowys’, the name of my recent exhibition – ‘golowys’ means ‘lights’ in Cornish, so I was looking at ancient Cornish culture and paganism, celebrating the sun cycles and the lunar calendar, finding symbols which represent them. A lot of ancient art is about the sun and the moon and the stars.

I went to a tiny primary school: there were only three people in my year, and there were literally only about 20 or 30 students in total, so it kind of felt more like a family than a school. I definitely think I felt closer to the communities that I was surrounded by just because of their size. It’s also quite isolating. When I turned into a teenager I found it really hard to get anywhere and friends lived a 20 minute drive from me and I couldn’t drive, so…that kind of frustrated me a lot. I think it’s a universal feeling, really, in Cornwall. I’d say that my upbringing here was quite protected, so in terms of differences to other places, only as a teen did I start to realise that. I remember learning about things like knife crime and being like “why is that a thing?” because it just doesn’t happen here. I think it’s very protected growing up in places like this. Another thing about Cornwall that I’ve noticed is that there’s quite a large white demographic down here, which is why going up to uni and leaving Cornwall has been nice to experience, you meet other people from different cultures and different heritages. 

I think there’s a strong artistic culture down here, especially in West Penwith, and that has really influenced my creativity I think. Growing up surrounded by art and artists has been really fun. Also pagan traditions: every May Day I’m sure there will be people here dancing around. On May Day there’s the May Pole where you go over and under people as you dance around it. And then there’s just holding hands and dancing around, music being played, food being eaten. Lots of folk music. I remember coming here a couple of years ago and it was raining but there was a fire and a little tent with the musicians under, and we were all standing in a circle dancing. 

I don’t know whether this is me just growing up and noticing things more or whether it’s actually changed, but I’ve started to notice how many holiday homes and second homes there are down here. We are in kind of a housing crisis down here, and it does scare me that I might not be able to own my own home when I’m down here when I’m older. And I do wonder whether that will change the culture down here, people from here not being able to live here anymore. Coming back here, that’s the main thing I’ve really started to notice, especially during the summer. Everywhere’s a holiday home. All these cottages in little valleys where I live, they’re just empty in the winter and really busy in the summer, which is kind of sad because they should be lived in all year round really. 

I think since I’ve been at uni I’ve started to appreciate it more. Living by the sea, I kind of took it for granted, and now coming back for the holidays it’s really nice to have a break from the city and spend time down here when it’s such a different place to anywhere else. That’s definitely changed how I see Cornwall. Before it was really annoying because it’s so big and everywhere’s so far apart. The fact that it’s so quiet is really nice. And being able to just walk down to the sea, just be surrounded by nature. City life is so fast-paced, whereas here you can just kind of sit back and breathe it all in. I feel more grounded when I’m here I think, which is nice. I can take my time here. I’ve only really realised that in the last year or so, how important being in nature is. And I think that’s because I’ve spent time away from it.

I’d love to live down here when I get a house…if I ever get a house. I’d love to live close to the sea. I guess my main worry is the housing situation around here. There are also some quite poor areas. I don’t think Cornwall is funded very much so I do hope that Cornwall starts to get the funding it needs. Have you been into Penzance recently? So many shops have closed down and it could be such a nice little town, but the city centre is kind of dead. There are people here to have shops and do events, but I think it would be nice for them to be supported. There is that community there, it just needs supporting.