Surfers

In 1993 Hughes became the first artist in residence at the Tate Gallery St Ives. St Ives is a small Cornish town on the Southwest coast of England, its artistic connections date back to Victorian times when numerous artists came to St Ives to paint. Artists associated with the town include Barbara Hepworth, Naum Gabo, Alfred Wallis and Mark Rothko.

During this residency, Hughes worked with local surfers and Surfers Against Sewage to co-curate a series of workshops and associated activities called 'Sea Fever', which included the design and production of a Tate St Ives surfboard. The Tate Gallery contacted Hughes in connection to his work with surfers. Between 1989 and 1993 he continued to make portraits of surfers in Britain and also in Portugal. As seen in the other archive pages it is this relationship to the surfer, the body and the liminal that threads .