Flotsam and Jetsam - Day Two

I got up at 6am so I could go down to the river and arrive for low tide, 6.40am and sunrise, 6.45am. A lucky convergence – two natural cycles syncing up to start the day and the residency. I wanted to disrupt my usual day, and seek out connection with Gravesham.

Except I stayed up late reading the children’s version of The Kalevala. I started with the English translation for adults but I was really tired. The children’s version was great but I ended up not going to sleep until 12.30am. 

So I didn’t actually get up at 6am. I snoozed until ten past and then raced around to cycle down, not getting time for breakfast. It was cold and misty and grey, although the first photo doesn’t look it.

I had a good mooch about along the foreshore, found a shell and beautiful piece of mother of pearl from an oyster. It was grey with mud and green with algae.  The pebbles were a similar colour to those at St Andrew's Quay – more bits of broken, river softened brick here.

I sat on a rock and calculated the flow rate, but it was tricky because the water was moving around so much. The sun didn’t rise, it just gradually got less grey. The promise of yesterday’s dazzling sunset not being kept. The tide didn’t seem to be rising so I checked the tide table and low tide was at 10.02 am – how had I got it so confused? Must have been looking at the wrong date.

It was cold, even in my thermals and a thick jumper. The Canada Geese, Crows and Seagulls were shouting their morning news. There was almost no sign of human life, a solitary sculler heading East on the other side of the river. Very little road noise, no planes. Two cormorants silently flew east, their wing tips almost touching the water.

I stayed for about an hour before heading home. It was a useful way to start the day – even if it left me knackered and chilled. Seeds of ideas were planted that meandered through the day and are collected below.

I also

• Shared the blog on social media and with friends and family
• Emailed and messaged the three people I know in Gravesham to arrange a chat
• Read some leaflets I collected from LV21
• Laid out my desk space with residency ‘things’; books, rope and the soil
• Looked in vain for the little bottle of water I bought back from Gravesend – where is it????
• Read a letter and made some notes for the response
• Checked out this week’s Gravesend Art Club challenge, which led me to look at famous people from Gravesend

 

Flotsam and Jetsam of thoughts through the day…

Inspired by the Public Protection Order sign. Thinking about external impositions of pride. How we define pride is probably shaped by our personal experience, the cultures that shape us, shape how we experience pride. How can you balance or negotiate the different, maybe conflicting versions of creating experinces of pride?  

I’d like to think some more about public and private experiences of pride.

There’s a colour palette for the riverside emerging – oranges, rusts, browns and greys with bright green highlights. I wonder how these colours appear through the district?

I wonder what the different boundary markers are for and within Gravesham? What parishes, natural boundaries exist? 

Unresidency-ing. What does it mean to be on a residency when you aren’t resident? How does the idea of a residency sit with the experience of people who have caring responsibilities, health issues? Is the idea of going off and completely focussing only on making art or thinking an inclusive way of working. I’m not sure it is. I also really see the value of it. 

What are the myths, stories and urban legends of Gravesham? The Kalevala reading inspired me to think about this. 

Things to research

• I saw the Anglo Saxon Friendly Society painted on building when my camera had run out – must look it up.
• The Saxon Shore way 
• Famous / infamous people from Gravesham
• Rosherville Gardens

From the Thames, St Hilda's Wharf, Wapping, East London.