Mabel Acre - A Portrait of an Artist

A year before I took this portrait of the Spanish artist Mabel Acre, I had been commissioned to spend a day with her in her wonderful studio at Krowji studios in Redruth. It remains one of the nicest commissions I’ve ever had, which is saying something after working for The Guardian, The Observer and TheTelegraph earlier in my career.

Mabel’s work is striking, large in scale and created in a way I’ve never seen before. She paints with music pumping through the studio, everything from Bowie and Blondie to Massive Attack and Muse. Her workflow moves to the rhythm of the music; she dances, moves and almost caresses the canvas in wide, deliberate strokes. Her paintings are abstract, yet within them there is a definite sense of form and emotion.

I’ve said before that I love photographing artists. I find them fascinating and I’m always curious to learn what inspires them. I’ve photographed hundreds over the years and no two are ever the same, which is what makes the experience so special.

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Eventually, Mabel and her lovely husband Fernando, decided to move back to Spain. Before leaving Cornwall, Mabel felt compelled to mark the moment with an art project, and she asked me to document it.

She created a remarkable coat: a kaleidoscope of colour with a train more than twenty feet long. The act clearly meant a great deal to her. She put enormous effort into something that, in many ways, no oneelse would fully witness. It was her personal ritual of departure, her way of leaving Cornwall behind.

The installation began inside a cave at Perranporth Beach. Mabel climbed over boulders to reach the shoreline, dragging the long train of her coat behind her. She walked slowly into the strong wind that swept across the beach before suddenly tearing the coat from her shoulders.

She turned towards the sea and purposefully walked into the water. That is where I took this portrait.

I hadn’t planned on entering the sea myself, but I was so caught up in the theatre of what was unfolding infront of me that I didn’t hesitate, even though I was still wearing my shoes. Mabel became aware of me standing beside her. She paused for a brief moment and looked directly at me be forerunning forward and diving headfirst into the freezing cold water.

As she emerged, the sun broke through the clouds. Her hair and clothes were soaked, water dripping from her face, but she looked radiant, alive, almost reborn.

I love this portrait of Mabel. It’s easily one ofmy favourites because it feels so unusual and powerful. I’m drawn to the way her arms are positioned, the wind catching her hair across her face, and the fact that she is wearing the paint-splattered jeans she only ever wore while working in the studio. She stands looking out to sea, poised between past and future.

A moment after I took the photograph, she ran and dived back into the water. It was the instant before she baptised herself, cleansing herself from her life in Cornwall and preparing for the next chapter of her life, in Spain.

I don’t think I will ever experience another portrait session quite like that… which is a great shame.

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