Bethany Preston interviews environmentalist, sustainability advocate and businesswoman Laura Evans – the St Ives Mermaid.

Professional mermaid, advocate, and businesswoman Laura Evans is a force to be reckoned with. The underwater artist from St Ives can often be found exploring Cornwall’s tidal pools or collecting discarded windbreaks found on our beaches. Prior to COVID, she made frequent appearances across the St Ives coast, dubbing a fully-functioning mermaid tail – yes, you read that right! Last year, she opened her shop ‘Oh Give Me a Break’, and her colourful bags have been making appearances across the region. We caught up with her to talk about all things mermaiding, body acceptance, and sustainability.

Q: For those who don’t know, could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role as the St Ives Mermaid?

A: I’m Laura, an all-year-round outdoor swimmer with a passion for underwater photography, empowering people to embrace their individuality, sustainability, mental health, and sobriety. But it’s fair to say that people sometimes simply know me better as the St Ives Mermaid. For the past six years (apart from last year due to COVID) I have washed up on the beaches of St Ives to crowds of 200–300 people whilst wearing a custom-made mermaid tail. This offers children a truly unique opportunity to meet a ‘real life’ mermaid and has given me an equally unique way of raising funds for local and national charities. I’m very proud to say that St Ives was the first town in the UK to have its very own mermaid.

Q: Your photos are stunning! How do you find the right location and are there any challenges to shooting underwater?

A: Thank you! Shooting underwater takes a tremendous amount of trial and error – especially as many of my photographs are self-portraits. I really am spoilt for choice when it comes to shooting locations in Cornwall, but I generally shoot in tidal pools as they are a much more controlled environment than the open sea. One of the main obstacles is visibility, because seawater varies so much throughout the year and sometimes even day to day. I also have to find somewhere to put my camera, which is one of the most amusing but frustrating things when it comes to shooting. My approach is to use the tools nature has given me, so my camera can be found balanced on rock ledges in tidal pools, weighted on the bottom of a pool or the seabed itself and, if shooting on dry land, my shoes work well as a tripod. Once I have good visibility and a place to rest my camera I frame the shot as best I can, pop the camera on time-lapse and then do my best to achieve the pose I have in mind. It doesn’t always work out the way I planned, but that is all part of the process. I take 300-400 photos per shoot and, if I’m lucky, I’ll get 2 or 3 good shots.

Q: You radiate confidence in your photos! You’re also vocal on social media about embracing your imperfections. Have you always felt comfortable in your body? 

A: Not at all. When you’re raised in a household with female family members permanently on a diet, you learn from a very young age that trying to lose weight or ‘get trim’ is the norm. I grew up with the idea that being slim was the only way I’d be happy, and that being ‘overweight’ (over a size 10/12) made me inferior and a failure. So as soon as I did gain weight in my late teens and early twenties, my self-esteem plummeted and I began a 10-year pursuit of the ‘perfect body’. Perhaps I saw the body positivity movement growing on social media at the same time I was growing tired and disillusioned by my own obsession with my weight – still searching for but never finding that promised happiness, even when the number on the scales got less. Things really changed for me when I got sober. I talk openly about alcoholism on social media and, given that it’s quite a long story, I’ll keep it short and just summarise that when I came back from my lowest and darkest point and I found the strength to get sober, I was simply too grateful to my body for surviving all the abuse I had given it to continue abusing it any longer. And so began my journey to body acceptance and body gratitude. I am grateful for everything it is rather than everything it is not. It’s not easy unpicking years of deep-rooted toxic diet culture but, aside from getting sober, turning my back on the idea of unrealistic body/beauty standards is one of the best things I have ever done and it’s something I want other women (and men) to embrace. The more we see people celebrating the beautiful variety in our bodies, the more we can step away from this damaging culture we’re so manipulated by from a terrifyingly young age.

Q: Do you ever have days where you don’t feel brave enough to pose naked? How do you overcome this?

A: On the days I don’t feel brave, I’ve learnt it’s even more important to do the thing that scares you. So yes, I do have days when I perhaps don’t feel as comfortable or confident in my body, but it’s only through experience that there is always a reward when I step out of my comfort zone. It may be uncomfortable at the time, but the reward always outweighs the discomfort. On the days when I want to hide my body and shy away, I do quite the opposite and will often go for a nude swim as an act of love for my body and my mind.

Q: You’ve mentioned previously that mermaiding is your way of giving back to the town that helped to heal you. Can you elaborate on this?

A: I came home to St Ives in 2015 with the symptoms of PTSD. Barely eating and barely sleeping, I survived on cigarettes and alcohol. That was until I started getting in the sea again and rediscovered the incredible connection I have with the water – a connection I hadn’t experienced since childhood. Swimming in the seas surrounding St Ives brought me back to myself and changed my life in a way that I will be forever grateful for. With the mermaiding I saw a way of doing something unique and exciting for St Ives that would also give me the opportunity to support local charities – a way of giving back.

Q: In 2020 you started your own business ‘Oh Give Me A Break’, creating bags out of discarded windbreaks. Could you tell us a bit about what inspired you?

A: Starting a sustainable business genuinely wasn’t on my radar until the day I found three discarded windbreaks by some bins in St Ives. Rather than seeing trash, I instantly saw treasure! I scooped up the windbreaks and carried them home over my shoulder with the idea for ‘Oh Give Me A Break’ forming in my mind. I knew instantly that  I wanted to create colourful bags using simple designs that would utilise all of the windbreak fabric – aiming for a sustainable product made using a zero-waste process.

Q: You design your bags with as little waste as possible and you opt to use recycled materials, even donating 10% of your profits to the Sea Life Trust – is sustainability something you’ve always been passionate about? 

A: I would say I was a late bloomer when it came to my education around sustainability. It happened quite organically alongside my burgeoning love for all-year-round swimming. It’s very difficult to be part of the outdoor swimming community and not become aware of or sensitive to the issues of sustainability, single-use plastics and pollution. The more aware and committed I become to living sustainability, the more important it becomes to me to share the experience and encourage others to make changes, even small ones, in their lives.

Q: We believe that to be Disgraceful is to be bold, unafraid and unapologetic – in what ways would you consider yourself to be Disgraceful?

A: Even though I consider myself an anxious person I am truly and boldly 100% myself without fear or hesitation – life is too short to hold yourself back. Be loud or be quiet but just be YOU. My motto? Life is a festival so be a decoration! 

Q: Lastly – what advice would you give to our female readers looking to break out of their comfort zone? 

A: Do it. It’s in those uncomfortable places when you step out of your comfort zone that you will learn that most about yourself and it is ALWAYS worth it. There’s nothing like the sense of pride when you do something that scares or challenges you.

View Laura’s work on Instagram @stivesmermaid or take a look at her shop by visiting www.ohgivemeabreak.co.uk.