“We passed enormous, moored oceangoing ships, our canoe dwarfed by a single link of their massive anchor chains. Vertical metal sides rose above us – clifflike and solid…”
Kurt Jackson.
On the sheltered southern coast of Cornwall lies Falmouth, a popular, bustling town with a historically strategic deepwater port sitting at the mouth of the River Fal. The river itself is perhaps less well-known.
Where does she originate, what route does she take? The rural beginnings, plentiful wildlife and valuable natural habitats, the industrial past and contemporary international harbour seem to be contradictory within the same watercourse.
Between the creeks and tributaries are small fields, orchards and plantations. The Fal is a place of Cornish tea, kea plums, apples, oysters and mussels and china clay. Tuna swim up the river, curlew and redshank grace the shoreline, old oaks and orchids line the banks: while boats sail her estuary and huge ships bring the whole world into its mouth.
The River Fal is a place where nature thrives alongside this busy world and the international meets the parochial.
Kurt Jackson has spent the last four years or so wandering up and down the River Fal to discover for himself her various moods, states and habitats, paint brushes in hand, to make this new series of works.
August 30 2025 – February 28 2026.
Jackson Foundation Gallery, North Row, St Just, Cornwall, TR19 7LB.
Please check here for seasonal opening times.
Exhibition catalogue can be purchased here.