An immersive new exhibition at St Mary’s Lighthouse invites visitors to look beyond the familiar surface of the sea and consider the fragile, often unseen world that exists beneath the waves.

Founded by North East artists Jessica Leigh and Ajay Wood, North Sea Daughters is a collaborative project of women artists working along the region’s coast.

What Lies Beneath, which will run from Friday, September 4 to Sunday, September 6, will transform the lighthouse into a space for reflection, storytelling and environmental awareness.

Through painting, installation and sculptural works, the exhibition explores tensions between the beauty of marine ecosystems and the growing impact and frequency of major occurrences of pollution.

Jessica Leigh with the wave of plastic from the What Lies Beneath exhibition.

placeholder image — Jessica Leigh with the wave of plastic from the What Lies Beneath exhibition.

Opening at a time when the North East coastline is once again making headlines through sewage discharges and the recent nurdles spill, What Lies Beneath asks visitors to consider how much of the damage inflicted on our oceans remains invisible until it reaches our shores.

Rather than offering easy answers, the exhibition invites reflection, conversation and hope through art.

Jessica said: “Through this exhibition, we want to create a space where people could experience both the beauty and the vulnerability of the underwater world.

“We hope visitors leave seeing the sea outside the lighthouse a little differently.”

Ajay added: “We aren’t interested in creating work that simply illustrates environmental issues. We want people to feel connected to the sea first, because people protect what they love.”

It is free admission to the exhibition, which has been created in partnership with St Mary’s Lighthouse and Visitor Centre.

Visitors can purchase lighthouse and visitor centre admission and refreshments in the gift shop.