While most rural areas complain that the young leave for the city, a growing tribe of around 40 surfers in the Hebrides are bucking the trend.
Some are natural born islanders, but the majority have moved to the islands attracted by the waves and the way of life.
Many of these surfers have travelled the world, surfed some of its best breaks and stayed in places that some would class as paradise, yet they have chosen to stay or move to Lewis.
Ms Maynard’s intimate portraits capture each surfer’s character and the event in their life that triggered their move north.
But the large mixed media diptychs are not just about the surfers and their stories, they’re also portraits of their favourite waves in motion.
Wave Migration, a new exhibition at An Lanntair in Stornoway by painter, screen printer and surfer Laura Maynard, explores the appeal of Hebridean surf culture to this growing community, and tells their stories through large-scale portraits and mixed media pieces.
She said: “For the surfers originally from Lewis this sport, lifestyle and passion was a key factor in their decision to stay when so many of their peers decided to leave.
"I’ve not travelled extensively, but I’ve always been fascinated why the surfers who have come to make their homes in Lewis and chose here over the warmer or more well-known destinations like Cornwall, the Canaries or Australia.
“Here in the Hebrides we still have wilderness and solitude which are the reasons many people get into surfing in the first place."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here