Seaworthy Vessel - a metaphor for resilience - Blog Post | November 6th, 2020

6 Nov

Letty McHugh shares a selection of images of paper boats made in response to her Seaworthy Vessel origami workshop on instagram.

I once saw a row of large anchors in a scrapyard from the window of a train. For the rest of the journey I couldn’t stop thinking about these anchors and the ships they came from. The parts of a ship wind up in a scrapyard because the ship they once made up has been deemed unseaworthy. The question came to mind was this, what would happen if we applied the idea of seaworthiness to people? Who would pass the test?

The idea of seaworthiness as a metaphor for resilience became the inspiration behind my project Seaworthy Vessel. I was particularly interested in exploring the relationship between my Great Grandad who was injured while sailing with the Merchant Navy in WWII, and my experiences with an MS relapse that affected my hands.

An Instagram post, with #SEAWORTHYVESSEL written at the top. The photograph is of a white hand delicately holding up an origami paper boat, against the background of a beach. — Instagram stories #seaworthyvessel. @beccamathilde

The participatory part of the project encouraged people to reflect on and celebrate their own resilience, by writing a personal message and submitting their boat to an online fleet. I am still collecting images on Instagram so if people reading this want to take part, please tag @ukuletty with hashtags #SeaworthyVessel or #IamSeaworthy.

The submissions to the project have been wonderful, for me reading other people’s stories has really brought this piece of work to life. I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has taken part so far, or has followed the story of the project since I first started working on it in 2019.

A photograph by Edith G of a selection of paper origami boats against a dark brown background. — Edith G: Origami paper boat

A photograph by Louise Griffiths of an origami paper boat in the middle of a forest, next to a puddle. — Louise Griffiths: Origami paper boat

A photograph from Julia of an origami paper boat, with 'My seaworthy vessel' written across the bottom. The boat sits at the top of the photograph, on top of a series of blue-and-white paint strokes. — JULIA ABSTRACT ART: Origami paper boat

A photograph from the A Little Me A Little Hue series, of four paper origami boats sitting on a series of multicoloured rocks and pebbles. — A Little Me A Little Hue: Origami paper boat

A photograph from Colin Hambrook of an origami paper boat sitting on a green strip of fabric, on top of a red-and-gold surface. — Colin Hambrook: Origami paper boat

A photograph by Lauren Saunders of three origami paper boats which decrease in size. The biggest boat is made of a paper with little caricatured acorns on the inside. — Lauren Saunders: Origami paper boat

A photograph by Jess Kidd of three paper origami boats, back-lit, sitting on a work table. — Jess Kidd: Origami paper boat

A photograph by Jess Kidd of nine paper origami boats, sitting on a table. — Jess Kidd Art: Origami paper boat

A photograph by Jess Kidd of two origami paper boats in a planter full of water, with green, reedy plants growing around them. — Jess Kidd Art: Origami paper boat

An Instagram post, with #SEAWORTHYVESSEL written at the top. The photograph is of four white origami paper boats, sitting on top of a set of cabinet drawers. — Instagram stories #seaworthyvessel. @edithgdesign

When Grandad Billy was learning to use his hands again after his accident he learnt to knit and made dozens of pairs of slippers for his children that took on almost legendary status in my family history. I wanted to try a similar repetitive activity to regain confidence in my hands, so I began folding origami boats, with the ultimate aim of folding 1000.

Over the life of the project I’ve been on a literal journey to Oslo and an emotional one, redefining my definition of worthiness in ships and in people, but that’s all explained in the video, and if you still feel like you want to know more there’s the project book ‘Some Days I Am The Sea’.