Cathy's Art Diary

Striking display at London Bridge Station, as part of the Totally Thames Festival, of large, collaged photographs of river scenes by Henry Reichhold. The views were of Henley Regatta and the Great River Race and were compiled of a montage of images capturing the complex event into one image. The large, freestanding display, had two large and two smaller images of Henley on one side which were full of people and action. On the other side, the river race is shown as an aerial view of lots of boats going in different directions against an oddly blue river. The display might have had more impact if a charity stall hadn't set itself up at one end making it a bit off putting to stop to admire and engage with the work. Closes 30 September 2025

Lovely public exhibition outside the National Theatre of photographs by Hannah Smiles of objects found by the Thames. The information boards pointed out the Thames is the longest continuous archaeological site in Britain, a cumulative rubbish dump from thousands of years. The pictures were beautifully clear images showing the finds in isolation and giving them a sense of grandeur. I loved one of a pilgrim badge of St Thomas a Beckett   and well as one of Art Deco glass buttons but my favourite, shown here, was of the bowl of an anti-slavery clay pipe. Closes 5 October 2019

Evocative public exhibition outside the National Theatre as part of the Totally Thames festival looking at the smells of Barking. Organised by Valence House Museum it looked at 150 years of the smells of Barking. Although it was just a series of information boards they set the story out really well with just enough information. It went through the industries of the area and what they might have smelt like. Barking was particularly smelly as it was downwind of central London and a lot of London waste ended up there. I’d not realised what a big fishing fleet Barking had and I learned about industries I’d never come across before such as the annual ice harvest after landowners in the area flooded their land then harvested the ice that formed. Also the import of bird poo from Peru for fertilizer as well as manure from the city being shipped to Barking to be used in the market gardens nearby. Closes 5 October 2019

Striking installation at the Oxo Tower as part of the Totally Thames Festival by school children from Nigeria. Organised by the Five Cowries Arts Education Initiative based in Lagos, bringing together children, young people and teachers from across Nigeria with partners around the world to educate and raise awareness of water pollution crisis. It consisted of brightly painted jerry cans painted by the children hanging along the loggia at the bottom of the tower. They looked bright and colourful and made you stop to read what they about. Unfortunately I missed the sister exhibition outside City Hall of photograph exhibition of the project. Closes 30 September 2019

Beautiful installation on the river Thames at Bankside created by created by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov and local school children. The ship is made of bamboo, wood and silk with 178 canvas sails made by children in workshops and based on their discussions of diversity. It looks striking and colourful sitting in the river with great views of St Pauls behind it looking one way at Tate Modern the other way. The ship has had other iterations around the world since it first appeared in Egypt in 2008 including the 2010 Venice Biennial.  When I was there one of the primary schools who were involved turned up to look at it and were excitedly pointing out their canvases on the information boards although I admit they were easily diverted by the bubble man nearby. I did hear one girl say to her teacher “This is the best school trip ever”. Hopefully taking part is something they will remember for a long time to come. opefully taking part if something they Clos...

Nice exhibition on the banks of the Thames outside Tate Modern looking at the Dogget’s Race which has been run on the Thames for apprentice watermen since 1715 as part of the Totally Thames Festival. One side of the nicely presented information boards looked at the history of the race which was set up by the actor Thomas Dogget and told the story of watermen on the Thames pointing out that watermen took people up and down the river and lightermen took them across. The race is run between London Bridge and Cadogan pier by six apprentices and the prize is a red coat and badge which are presented at a dinner at the Fishmonger’s Hall.   The other side of the boards talked about the family tradition of taking part on the race with photographs of the current generation of these families by Hydar Dewachi. I was fascinated to see that Sean Collins, the CEO of Thames Clippers and his son had both won the race. Watch out for sister exhibitions outside the Guildhall and on one of ...

Thought provoking installation at the Oxo Tower by Maria Areco as part of the Totally Thames festival. This consisted of a series of wire cages each filled with a different type of plastic rubbish pulled out of the Thames so there was one of bottles, another of cups and one of ropes. Some of the cages were filled with items of the same colour. All the plastic was collected over just one year from 40 beaches along the tidal river. The work moved to other locations around London and I’d have liked to see it on another venue but ran out of time. It was quite striking to think of how the rubbish had got into the river and the sheer quantity of it. Evidently at night it was being specially lit which would have given it another interesting dimension.   Closes on 30 September 2017