Best in show

“The woman in this picture has some nerve. I have often taken a walk along the top of Beachy Head but I keep well back from the edge because it’s terrifyingly high. Adding to the feeling of unease here, Wolfgang Tillmans – the first photographer to win the Turner Prize – has a way of structuring his pictures that suggests he’s looking in from somewhere he couldn’t really be.

It looks here as if he may have hovered in mid-air to capture this shot. This may seem like a spontaneous scene set up for a laugh by some friends out for a cliff-top walk but Tillmans’s work is meticulously thought-out.

Since the Towner acquired this photo in 2004, we’ve shown it three times in different contexts as our permanent collection gallery rotates. It’s a really popular piece with our audiences even though some people say it makes them feel extraordinarily dizzy.

In fact, one of the first displays we mounted when the Towner reopened three years ago was called People’s Choice, with the public voting for their favourite works. This work of art proved to be one of the most popular, with visitors acclaiming both a local landmark and breathtaking view while also admitting they were scared half to death.

The photograph is nearly two metres high and, as Tillmans does not frame his work, it is pinned to the wall with clips, so people can get quite close to it. The fact that it is not behind glass adds to its vertiginous power.

And there is another side to Beachy Head, of course. It’s horrible to say it, but it does have a reputation as a suicide spot, which also makes it a very tragic place.
We’re displaying the picture this time in an exhibition that looks at how different artists have represented the Sussex coast over the years.

The show features some 18th-century depictions of rough seas and rugged coastlines including a representation of Beachy Head painted from sea level. It’s interesting to compare and contrast it with the Tillmans image.

The exhibition also explores how Sussex looks out across the Channel to other lands beyond the sea and how that makes us feel as an island nation. Its proximity to London and the role of Newhaven, which is nearby, as a key gateway to Europe make it a very popular destination for artists and holidaymakers alike.

Many people are drawn by the very varied coastline. Beachy Head is close to the iconic Seven Sisters cliffs and the landscape is also farmed and it's industrial as well. It’s a place that can really fire the imagination.”

A Point of Departure runs until 11 November

Sara Cooper is the collection curator at the Towner contemporary art museum, Eastbourne