Internationally renowned artist Henrietta is set to unveil her latest display of work at the Newlyn fish market on Wednesday June 9.

One of Britain’s foremost representational artists and portrait painters, multi-award-winner Henrietta Graham’s series captures the fishing industry’s fishermen, welders, ice-packers, beamers and trawlers in oils on canvas.

In collaboration with the Newlyn Pier & Harbour Commission, the nine 8 x 6ft aluminium duplicates of Graham’s fishing series will permanently adorn the newly refurbished fish market (the largest in the UK), highlighting the daily labour that the fishing industry workers encounter bringing in, landing and selling their catch.

Hosted at Newlyn, the largest fishing port in England, the collection also touches on current themes such as the fishing business post Brexit (and the impact of COVID), Cornwall’s regional identity, and sustainability and provenance in the food industry.

The artwork will be displayed on the outer wall of the Newlyn fish market and will educate the public about what fishing entails as well as bringing to life the realities of the industry at a time when it has been in severe jeopardy.

The artists fishing collection came about in peculiar fashion explained Graham: “I was working in Newlyn, watching the boats come in and the men working on the quayside – the sailors, welders, auctioneers. It was so vibrant and stimulating that it was irresistible as a subject.”

Graham even spent a week on a trawler, sketching as best she could and working alongside the fishermen:“The bravery and extreme hard work of the fishermen is phenomenal and I wanted to spotlight that.” She added.

Since a colony of artists formed the ‘Newlyn School’ back in the 1880s Newlyn has had a long history of artists who in their work have demonstrated the hardships of the everyday lives of the fishermen and their womenfolk. Graham’s paintings are a nod to the works of Stanhope Forbes, recognised as the father of the Newlyn School, whose realism and depiction of everyday life gave us an insight into a world that might otherwise have gone unrecorded.