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Swim Circle - by Richard Light and Paul Clark

"Water is the eye of the landscape"

Water holds a lens up to the world through which one can experience it differently. It is an element easily entered but within which one cannot survive without adaptation. How we adapt and respond aesthetically is the substance of this blog. The circular swim through the Lakeland tarns is the heart of the artwork around which other work is orchestrated.

Swimming through open water, forces us to find other ways of breathing, moving and thinking in order to continue functioning. When the water is cold, bodies react, withdrawing into themselves to protect the core. In the middle of a large lake, surrounded by mountains and trees, where the depth is unfathomable, it is vital to hold tight to the here-and-now experience of water and air and the delicate position between those two elemental forces. Thoughts become core thoughts. Awareness is enlarged and one is revitalised.

Recently, we have undertaken a 'Swimming Home' project and 'Full Circle' projects. Combining and developing these projects, we are currently undertaking a project entitled 'Swim Circle' again located in the Lake District.

An initial swim in Blea Tarn at the hub of the circle; then Moss Eccles Tarn, Coniston, Seathwaite Tarn, Stony Tarn, Burnmoor Tarn, Greendale Tarn, Bleaberry Tarn, Loweswater, Bowscale Tarn, Ullswater, Bleawater Tarn, and Gurnal Dubs.

The discussions we have on the paths up to the high swims have in the past formed a basis for the online blog, which will include thoughts, conversations, images and descriptions of the art-swim process.

During each swim expedition, different art activities take place. A final exhibition will include a record of the swim.

See our Swim Circle blog at