Giant sculptures on Lowestoft beach at First Light Festival

British sculptor Laurence Edwards’ stunning Shimmer and Borrowed Breath are being displayed as part of the eagerly-awaited First Light Festival.

Hailed as welcome additions to the sands of the South Beach in Lowestoft, they will be showcased across this weekend’s festival – and they’re already proving popular.

They feature as Messums teams up with festival organisers – the First Light Festival Community Interest Company (CIC) – for the inaugural Sculpture in the Sands exhibition on the beach.

Messums East will unveil three artworks which, together, respond to the festival’s theme for 2025 – ‘From the Seabed to the Sky’ – as it explores temporality in art.

The three site-specific artworks explore art of the moment, art of transience and art of permanence.

Genevieve Christie, Chief Executive Officer at First Light Festival CIC with the Chthonic Head on Lowestoft’s South Beach in 2023. Picture: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)

After unveiling the large Chthonic Head in 2023 and then the striking sculptures – five 8ft (2.4m) Walking Men bronze figures – last year, the installations enchanted locals and intrigued holidaymakers as they attracted an international audience of more than 40,000 people.

The five striking 8ft (2.4m) Walking Men bronze figures on South Beach in Lowestoft attracted many people at last year’s festival. Picture: Mick Howes (Image: Mick Howes)

Now continuing his ongoing relationship with the Lowestoft community, Edwards is contributing Shimmer and Borrowed Breath.

Johnny Messums and Laurence Edwards inside the former Post Office building in Lowestoft, which is to become an exciting new arts space. Picture: Darren Kirby (Image: Darren Kirby)

Cast in bronze, Shimmer – measuring 244cm in height – and Borrowed Breath – measuring 205cm in height – are described as “infinitely re-mouldable yet can remain unchanged for millennia.”

Borrowed Breath by Suffolk sculptor Laurence Edwards will feature on the South Beach in Lowestoft as part of the First Light Festival. Picture: Messums East (Image: Messums East)

A spokesman for the festival organisers said: “These works originate in the wax state of the bronze casting process, a territory Edwards has made uniquely his own.”

Shimmer is “inspired by sunlight dancing across water and the fleeting essence of the human form”.

Art will feature as part of the First Light Festival in Lowestoft. Picture: First Light Festival CIC (Image: First Light Festival)

Ephemeral Beauty will also feature – with commissioned work from artist Zena Holloway, a bio-designer, and founder of Rootfull.

Ephemeral Beauty is an ambitious project by artist Zena Holloway to grow three large-scale works from grass root. Picture: First Light Festival CIC (Image: First Light Festival CIC)

Described as “an ambitious project” by the artist to grow three large-scale works from grass root, every part of Ephemeral Beauty will “eventually decay and return to the earth.”

The final element of Sculpture on the Sands is a moment of celebration and collective reflection at a dawn performance by Sonic Collaborations.

The group, composed of Nic Pendlebury, Colin Riley, Hackney Colliery Band’s Steve Pretty, and Goat Girl’s Lottie P, will perform at sunrise on Sunday, June 22.