follow y/our river lea-minal edges: prompts for transitory states of being

In the autumn of  2022, after four years since our initial meeting at the river Lea Bow Locks where msdm publications studio was situated, hḗrā, tamara and I (paula) embarked on a self-initiated artist residency along the Lea Valley. During this period, we engaged in dialogue with various manifestations of the river Lea, which presented an opportunity for us to explore new research and form connections along the fluid geography of the Lea Valley. Its timeline spans from ancient water sources and industrial waterways to contemporary urban hydro-spectacles, reflecting humanity’s changing relationship with water over time, from a deity to a resource, from common use to private commodity.

Our experience during the residency inspired us to develop hybrid relational methods of portraiture that capture human and non-humans along the river as mobile subjects connected to one another. Hera and I worked on inscribing rituals for transitory states of being into the landscape of the Lower Lea Valley and the traces of the East London Waterworks. Tamara, on the other hand, engaged with people, animals and plant life she encountered along the river, starting at its mouth and following the waters thirty miles north, outside of London.

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