Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting outdoor exhibition at Canary Wharf looking at the importance of clean water to women’s health focusing on Malawi. The display, sponsored by WaterAid and the Wimbledon Foundation, consists of tender photographs by Laura El-Tantawy exposing the emotional toll of pregnancy, childbirth and childcare without clean water and decent toilets, each with a short commentary. I think this display is doing the rounds and has already been next to Tower Bridge last year.

Thoughtful exhibition at the National Maritime Museum of work by seven contemporary artists looking at the importance of water in our lives. Curated by The Collective Makers the show sets out the work clearly with good commentaries. I had problems finding the exhibition, as it wasn't in the usual exhibition space, so shout out to the helpful chap on the information desk who walked me round and told me a bit more about the show as we went. It was a particularly good tip to watch the first video which he said a lot of people missed. It was by Seba Calfuqueo from Chile and showed them slowly pulling a long train blue of satin up and down stairs towards a waterfall. The train looked like water itself. If you follow me you'll know I'm not always a fan of video art bit this was contemplative and not too long at about 6 minutes. Other artists I liked from the show included three sisters called The Jiun Collective, three sisters who interviewed their two grandmothers about m...

Clever exhibition in the public space at London Bridge pier organised by Water Aid looking at how the Victorians solved water, sewage and hygiene problems and comparing this to the current situation in developing countries and the great difference small changes to improve water quality can bring them. I do like this new trend to put an exhibition in the street and this one was particularly nicely designed with each information board being edged in plumping pipes and values. The Victorian side was shown via photographs by Thomas Ball showing some of the great Victorian projects to improve water quality. I loved the picture of the majestic Crossness Pumping Station as it is very close to where I live. The photos were supported by people’s memories of water related issues (toilets etc) collected by Water Aid as part of the Big History Project. Some of these were fascinating and frightening recent such as a road in Cambridge in the 1960s which was still using a well contaminat...

Interesting exhibition at Circus Street Market as part of Brighton Festival of eight inventions on the theme of weather, water and climate change. I must admit quite a bit of this passed me by! I wasn’t sure if some of them didn’t do very much or just weren’t working! I get that they wanted you to experience the show and then read about it but I’d have liked more commentary near the exhibits to get a better idea of what they were about. I liked a paddling pool with dry ice which created a cloudscape. It was really relaxing to watch and I spotted one couple dancing round it. I also like an installation of single ear phones hanging from the ceiling an ear height which you walked past and put your ear to listen to different sounds of water. I liked the calmness of this and how it drew you in. Each piece was by a different artist but again because of the lack of clear commentary I’m not too sure now which piece was by whom. In my defence I am behind and I saw this about 4...