WILD EYE
AN EXCITING OUTDOOR ART AND NATURE PROJECT FOR THE NORTH YORKSHIRE COAST
Wild Eye is an inspiring nature and art project that brings together leading artists with great opportunities for people in the Scarborough and Whitby area and visitors to observe and engage with the outstanding wildlife found along the North Yorkshire coast.
Wild Eye aims to foster a greater understanding of the incredible wildlife found across the North Yorkshire Coast through artworks and events, raising awareness of issues around nature, biodiversity and climate change.
Artworks by leading UK contemporary artists Jeremy Deller, Emma Smith are now installed in locations across Scarborough, North Yorkshire, completing the trail in April 2025. These thought-provoking new works, celebrating the region’s incredible biodiversity, join existing permanent installations in Scarborough and Whitby from Shezad Dawood collaborating with author Daisy Hildyard, Ryan Gander, Paul Morrison and Juneau Projects.
For full visitor information – including a map for the full coastal art and nature trail across Scarborough and Whitby – head to the Wild Eye website.
Curated by Jeanine Griffin and Alice Sharp, Wild Eye is developed by Invisible Dust in partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, a regional environmental charity.
Wild Eye Projects
- A New Seawatching Station featuring the permanent artwork Roman Mosaic c. 2025 by Jeremy Deller in collaboration with Coralie Turpin, 2025
- Shezad Dawood collaborating with Daisy Hildyard, Ambiguous Machines, digital commission, 2024
- Paul Morrison, Sea Oak, 2024
- Juneau Projects, There Is Another Alphabet, 2022
- Sea Songs, young people’s project with Rob Mackay, 2021
- Social Broadcasts: Wild Eye Audio Postcards, 2021
A New Seawatching Station featuring permanent artwork Roman Mosaic c. 2025 by Jeremy Deller
“With its swooping whale, snapping seal and mischievous god, the artist’s tricksy new work, made with Coralie Turpin, is just one of the fun-filled additions to Scarborough’s Wild Eye coastal art trail” ★★★★ Hannah Clugston, The Guardian
Roman-style mosaic unveiled at sea watching spot – BBC News
The sixth and final work of the Wild Eye series is a new Seawatching Station featuring a permanent artwork commission by Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller.
Located on Marine Drive – one of the best spots on the English coast for observing dolphins and porpoises, with over 350 sightings in the past year – the Seawatching Station offers free telescopes and comprehensive wildlife information, providing insight into the area’s remarkable marine life.
Deller’s new artwork, Roman Mosaic c. 2025, created in collaboration with sculptor and mosaic artist Coralie Turpin, is an integral part of the Seawatching Station. This large-scale, fragmentary Roman-style floor mosaic is inspired by Scarborough’s marine life and Roman heritage.
Roman Mosaic c. 2025 has been developed in consultation with local scientists, conservationists, archaeologists and community groups and builds on Jeremy Deller’s long-standing fascination with cultural history.
Emma Smith, Old Friends, 2025
Emma Smith’s Wild Eye commission is a series of six multi-part outdoor artworks installed along Scarborough’s Cinder Track, a historic railway line, now a popular cycle route and footpath that also serves as an important green corridor for wildlife.
Emma has created a series of six multi-part works—five permanent and one living—installed along the Scarborough to Scalby section of the Cinder Track. Designed as dwell spaces for both people and wildlife, the artworks offer multi-sensory experiences that highlight our interconnectivity. They invite visitors to slow down, rest, and pay attention to all living beings that share the track.
Created in collaboration with local communities, conservationists and scientists, each of the six site-specific commissions is crafted from fossil rich local stone, linking this inland area with the nearby marine environments that the track connects with. The works also include elements of soil, wood and seed and are designed to support the health of both the people using the track and the surrounding ecology.
Shezad Dawood with Daisy Hildyard, Ambiguous Machines, 2024
The fourth commission in the Wild Eye trail – launched in November 2024 – is an Augmented Reality work from leading UK artist Shezad Dawood collaborating with award-winning writer Daisy Hildyard.
Weaving together science, storytelling, myth and local knowledge, the work, accessed via QR codes along Scarborough’s seafront, Ambiguous Machines explores the future of UK marine and coastal environments. Developed in collaboration with scientists and conservationists, as well as local community groups, Dawood and Hildyard’s work aims to strengthen understanding of the effects of climate change while raising awareness of the importance of marine conservation efforts.
The Harbour: Paul Morrison, Sea Oak, 2024
In March 2024, Wild Eye launched a unique new seaweed sculpture at Scarborough Harbour. The sculpture – Sea Oak – designed by internationally-renowned Yorkshire-based artist Paul Morrison, was selected in consultation with a local community advisory group.
The sculpture has been created by internationally-renowned, Yorkshire based artist Paul Morrison whose work often refers to modified found imagery from botanical photography and illustrations.
It depicts Fucus Vesiculosus or bladderwrack – an iconic seaweed species common to the UK coast. The sculpture is inspired by the positive role seaweed plays in contributing to the health of the ocean. In particular, seaweed has the potential to be an important part of the fight against climate change because it grows fast, taking up carbon and oxygenating seawater. It also functions as an important habitat for marine life.
Ryan Gander, We are only human (Incomplete sculpture for Scarborough to be finished by snow), 2022
Ryan Gander’s sculpture at Scarborough Castle headland launched in March 2022 and also functions as a seating structure and a viewpoint for clifftop wildlife and sea views. It provides a waymarker to an incredible coastal view and a point of interest for residents and visitors alike.
Ryan Gander, photo by Richard Ponter
Inspired by structures used to prevent coastal erosion, the sculpture’s design has been adapted so that its form is only completed if it is snowed on, something increasingly unlikely due to climate change. It draws attention to the important role of the sea in absorbing carbon and slowing climate change and local coastal erosion. The sculpture is made of innovative low carbon material, incorporating recycled glass and limestone.
Ryan Gander is a world-renowned artist who has been awarded an OBE for services to culture and Scarborough joins Cambridge, Liverpool, New York, Mexico City and other international cities in hosting pieces of his thoughtful and engaging works in public spaces.
After Anna, community workshops and exhibition, Jacqui Barrowcliffe, 2023
After Anna: Blueprint Impressions from Today’s Seas is an exhibition of seaweed sun-prints or ‘cyanotypes’ made by the Scarborough community, presented in an empty shop space on Newborough and at Scarborough’s Market Hall.
The project takes a photographic technique from the past to highlight a present day problem and asks the question: What do our seas look like now compared to the past and what can we do to help improve them for the future?
Juneau Projects, There Is Another Alphabet, 2022
Three new sculptural benches There Is Another Alphabet are now situated around Whitby Harbour, North Yorkshire, created with designs by local people about the wildlife of the Esk Estuary in collaboration with artists Juneau Projects.
Photo by Richard Ponter
Photo by Richard Ponter
Photo by Richard Ponter
The three coloured brick benches illustrate different stages of the Esk environment, highlighting the particular wildlife of each area. The title of the works ‘There Is Another Alphabet’ comes from a poem by Dejan Stojanovic: “There is another alphabet, whispering from every leaf, singing from every river, shimmering from every sky.”, which perhaps suggests that we can learn to ‘read’ and understand the natural world better.
Sea Songs Soundwalks with Rob Mackay, 2021
Sea Songs, a project in which Scarborough Sixth Formers with acoustic artist Rob Mackay created field sound recordings of marine mammals and their underwater environment which were turned into an audio walk for Scarborough and Whitby.
Social Broadcasts: Wild Eye Audio Postcards, 2021
Wild Eye has commissioned a series of nature-inspired podcasts, made by sound artist Lucia Scazzocchio at Social Broadcasts, who spoke to local residents, scientists, artists and conservationists about the marine environment, climate and the future.
Wild Eye
Wild Eye is delivered in partnership with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, a regional environmental charity, and Invisible Dust, a UK-based art-science organisation.
Wild Eye is funded by the Towns Fund drawn from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government administered through North Yorkshire Council and supported by the Scarborough Town Board, specifically assigned to the development of a nature, art and culture offer in Scarborough. The funding aims to promote year-round tourism and assist with local economic regeneration.
Visit the Wild Eye website to explore the full programme and plan your visit.
