Easkey Britton On International Women's Day

I like this idea that waves are shaped by the unseen forces of the wind. It reminds me of the complex beauty of how the forces of nature work, and how they can mirror our own inner workings.

At the end of the summer I sat above Donegal Bay, where I’m from, on the highest sea cliffs in Ireland - Slieve League. It’s always windy there. It’s a place where four seasons are born and die in a day. I was with a close friend visiting from another country. He was alive and perceptive to the wild elements of this north-west corner of Ireland in ways that awakened senses in me that I had forgotten.

I began to see what before had been invisible to me. I began to notice the hidden elements below the familiar skin of this place called home. We sat still on springy tufts of heather, gently closed our eyes and meditated on the wind for a moment. I noticed how it spoke to the surface of the sea, how it brought the language of the sea to life. I heard it in the craggy mountain peaks whistling around the solid granite making the rock sing. I felt how it tugged at my hair pulling a strand free from my hair-tie and whipping it about my face. I could feel the intensity of its touch on my right cheek until my left cheek began to feel jealous. It was only with my eyes closed that I could ‘see’ the wind, and was reminded how essential the invisible is.

This photo series, ‘Shaped by the Unseen’ by Jelle Mul celebrates the beauty beneath the surface. It is the first creative campaign to be launched by Like Water, in celebration of International Women’s Day. The photo series also seeks to celebrate the beauty of our differences; how we each feel the world around us differently. It challenges us to see beyond stereotypes, inviting us to shift our perspective and see beneath the skin. It seeks to ignite our curiosity and imagination, to wonder at the mystery of life, to explore what is beyond the illusion and discover the unseen reality of who we truly are.