Roam, River, Roam

In the UK today, we are witnessing drastic changes to the wellbeing of our waterways, with 75% of the country's rivers identified as in poor health for people and the planet. 

Roam, River, Roam is a practice-as-research project which forms part of my wider current PhD in collaboration with the University of Salford and Open Eye Gallery. 

For the past 18 months, I’ve been working as a photographic artist in residence with different communities located along the rivers Sett, Goyt, Mersey and Irk. The residency explores individuals' relationships to their local river and its surrounding public green spaces. It invites us to consider how, like the different points of the river, we are all interconnected. 

Students and a graduate from the University of Salford’s MA Art and Design programmes were also invited to engage with the programme, learning more about socially engaged art practice and action-based research. It is hoped that the residency acts as a useful case study to learn what multi-role practitioners in socially engaged arts practice bring to the different sectors they engage with simultaneously.

There were three collaborative projects which formed part of the residency with:

  • High Peak Community Arts Project eARTh group (New Mills, Derbyshire); 

  • Many Hands Craft Collective (Ancoats) in collaboration with film-maker Fiona Brehony;

  • babies, children and mums at the children’s library and baby sensory room at Stockroom (Stockport).

Current / forthcoming exhibitions for Roam, River Roam

22 January - 29 March, LOOK Climate Lab, Open Eye Gallery (Liverpool)
12 February - 12 March, Stockroom, (Stockport)
21 February - 21 March, Manchester Histories - Basement floor of Manchester Central Library, (Manchester)

More about the project

High Peak Community Arts in New Mills, Derbyshire, explored the sounds and sensory green and blue space elements of the river through craft and alternative photographic processes. The result was a collaborative film about the rivers Sett and Goyt. The film piece also led to the title of the overall project – Roam, River, Roam – based on one of the participants’ poems. 

I’ve also been working alongside the Many Hands Craft Collective (an over-60s craft group in Ancoats, Manchester) and film-maker Fiona Brehony to explore the shift in the landscape around the river Irk as a wave of regeneration hits the area. Fiona is working on a collaborative documentary film, whilst the group and I are completing a large fabric protest banner as a call to action to protect our rivers, with the support of textiles artist Lou Miller.

The third strand of the programme involved working in collaboration with babies, young children and mothers at the children’s library and sensory room at Stockroom in Stockport. 

Children and babies enjoyed responding to the project through creative photography and craft-based workshops, using archival imagery, audio, photo collage and video. Meanwhile, new mums were given baby sensory gift packs and invited to write a letter using handmade recycled paper (from the collages made during the other projects) to their children about their hopes for their future rivers.

A huge thanks to the different community groups, creatives and project partners who have collaborated with me on this project.

students and graduates from the University of Salford have collaborated on the programme throughout, including Anna Wijnhoven, Jess Robinson, Matt Mullins, Izzy Sempill and Nia Hoffmann.