Returning to Six Senses Laamu in 2026

87 Art Students, 87 Ocean Conversations

I’ve just returned from my second residency with Six Senses Laamu, and it felt so special. This time, I felt more rooted, more confident, more focused on what these classes can actually do (beyond teaching painting techniques) - I couldn’t wait to share my passion for marine conservation and painting and how good it is for our mental health. Over the course of the residency, 87 guests joined my marine art classes. Families, couples, kids, more experienced artists, complete beginners — all sitting down to paint sea turtles, reef fish, sharks and rays after seeing them in the water. What I noticed most was two things - 1) How quickly painting changed the way students observed marine life. When someone sketches a turtle shell, they suddenly notice the scute patterns. When they paint a reef fish, they notice the position of the fins, the patterns, the scales. When they draw a manta ray and I tell them about my previous adventures as a manta researcher, they understand its mystery and scale in a completely new way. So many guests told me the class made them look more closely underwater. And 2) How almost all adults hadn’t picked up a paintbrush since being a child, and yet, enjoyed it so much as soon as they started. I had so many conversations about the importance of being creative, of letting go of the daily stress of what’s next, of just being in the moment and appreciating the healthy luxury of being creative. Being creative is good for our soul, our health, our brains.

A Full Circle Moment

One special moment of this residency was welcoming Steve Backshall, Helen Glover, and their children to one of my family painting classes. I first met Steve when I was an intern with the Manta Trust, then again while working for MUI and the Manta Trust — and now once more, but this time as an artist. What made this time more meaningful was watching their children fall in love with manta rays, the Maldives, and the ocean — and then seeing them paint their favourite creatures during the family art class.

The Backshall family have long been connected to the Maldives Underwater Initiative and marine conservation in the Maldives. Over the past five years, Steve has returned to Six Senses Laamu to film TV series alongside the MUI team and give special presentations at the resort. During earlier shoots, I supported as Steve’s safety diver while he was filming with MUI — but I never imagined that one day I would have him sitting in one of my painting classes with his lovely family. Yet here we were - it was good fun!

The class was inspired by a snorkelling adventure we shared the day before the class, swimming with feeding reef manta rays just outside the atoll. I watched wholeheartedly as Helen had a unique moment underwater freediving with reef mantas, a huge green turtle and a hawksbill turtle all in one breath, while Steve had one of his kids, Logan, on his back while watching two mantas pass by with great speed - it all felt so humbling and I was just incredibly happy the team was able to make this happen for them. I also recognised some of my old manta “friends” from my time here as a researcher with the Manta Trust - and it all truly felt like a full-circle moment.