Van’s team rider Izzy Henshall took time out recently to share with us some of her recent surf-inspired artwork. Izzy gives us insights into each piece of art. Enjoy.

I’ve been interested in photography since a young age, it started off with one of those pink kids v-tech cameras that also have games on, and they kind of bounce when you drop them. It’s what I’d bring along when I was forced to go on walks with my parents at a young age. Since then I’ve developed my love for it (both walks and photography). I’m mainly shooting on film at the moment, and sometimes I like doodling on and manipulating these photos to make something a little different. I studied both photography and art in school but I tended to avoid doing what I thought was real art and just doodling and making collages instead. This then worked well when I was studying Lens based media in college due to the creative freedom and being able to combine art and photography. I’ve been enjoying this combination recently as it allows me to create something a little different.

Here are a few recent creations:

Hi8 palms

Hi8 palms:

This one is kind of the odd one out because it’s a frame from hi8 tape rather than 35mm film. While making it I wanted to embrace this by adding in the sections of noise/grain, which is reminiscent of static on old, damaged tape recordings. It was a frame that was shot while looking up in a Mexican jungle, it was part of the walk down to my favourite break.

Lines

Lines:

This is one of my earliest multiple exposures and still one of my favorites. It’s three exposures on film all of my local break, however from slightly different perspectives. It’s one of the multiple exposures that got me hooked on creating them due to the unpredictable nature and the uniqueness that it creates, especially when shot straight onto film.

 

Mexico

Mexico:

This one was made as a documentation of some of my time in Mexico. The main image was taken on my film camera within my first hour of being in Mexico. In my jet lagged state I thought that I’d made a mistake with the exposure, and I wasn’t expecting it to come out at all so this was a nice surprise. It features the key locations as well as key memories from the trip that were captured on my handycam.

 

Purple swan

Purple swan:

This one is a combination of four different photos taken on two different trips, two from Mexico and one (double exposure) from the Basque Country. I took the mountain photo while checking the surf at Mundaka and it has another exposure of the wave and sky, but this takes a bit more time to spot. Then doorstep flowers and a Mexican bird (some kind of egret I think?). All with a purple tint because I like purple at the moment.

Beach people

Beach people:

This is Biarritz in early September and late afternoon on very expired, grainy film. My inspiration for this is related to the issue at Cote de Basques where you aren’t allowed to surf leashless. There are lifeguards and police that patrol the beaches throughout the summer that fine you if you’re caught not wearing a leash. This has caused a lot of issues within the logging community in Biarritz and gave me the idea to attach each person on the beach with a singular black line.

Purple vibes