Part of a PhD thesis on links between water justice and mental health, this surf heritage mapper is a form of design research / arts-based qualitative inquiry that maps surf memories in south-east England and East Anglia. As well as providing additional evidence for the research, it opens the door to making a very intangible heritage more tangible, and therefore more conventionally valuable -- at a time when the ongoing sewage scandal suggests that the sport's accessibility is not important.
While surfers rarely need permanent land allocation such as pitches/courts, clubhouses or stadia, they can always collaborate to platform their intangible cultural heritage through art and media to add some tangibility. If you would like to record your surf memories as part of this project, please contact Fred at Greenwich University.
Participants were asked to record their first, best, worst and weirdest surf sessions or surf-related memories. The key/legend is #1 for first, thumbs up for best, thumbs down for worst and a spiral for weirdest -- with other honourable mentions.
