Overview

Artist Wilma Johnson was living on the west coast of Ireland with her husband and three children, struggling to combine the demands of art, motherhood and marriage, and at the age of forty she decided that what she really wanted to do was move to Biarritz and become a surfer. Ten years on, she's still there. She surfs pretty much every day. She exhibits her paintings, she runs her kids into the local town in her beaten up car, and she meets up with the Surf Mamas, the women who, like her, choose cold, wet neoprene suits over cocktail dresses. Surf Mama, beautifully illustrated with Wilma's paintings, tells the story of how one woman discovered life on a board. I see a big set coming, the sort of waves that would usually have me paddling for the horizon like a wind-up bath toy. But today I think, oh what the hell, you're only young twice, and I go for it. There's not much point describing a wave. Being a surfer is a bit like being a Born Again Christian, you can only talk about it to the saved. If you surf, you'll know exactly how it feels to catch the biggest wave of your life - if you don't you've probably glazed over already. It doesn't just feel like the biggest wave I've ever caught, it feels like the biggest wave anyone ever caught in the history of the world. When I come in past the tough Basque guys, they whistle and cheer. Which is cool. I paddle back out to the girls. Did you see my wave? It seemed kind of big,A I add as casually as I can. I'm sick of being told my big waves were six inches high. Big? It was fucking enormous.A Great, I'm a gnarly surf dude at last.

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9781907616211

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Wilma Johnson is an artist, writer, and surfer living in Biarritz. She studied painting and photography at St. Martin's College of Art, and while there she founded the Neo-Naturist performance art group with Christine and Jennifer Binnie and Grayson Perry. She has exhibited her work internationally, and has lived in England, Ireland, Mexico and now France.

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