The Nature of Change
(2008)
Route 1 : The Battery, West Beach to Whitstable Harbour
Route 2 : Long Rock, Swalecliffe to Whitstable Harbour
An environmental project in collaboration with musician/composer Stephen Clee. Stephen invited me to work alongside him to evolve a project engaging local children in exploring the natural environment of the shoreline. We worked with primary aged children from two local schools. Each group started approximately a mile either side of Whitstable Harbour, St Mary's Primary starting at The Battery, and Swalecliffe Primary starting at Long Rock. Each child was asked to collect no more than three small objects from the beach. At specific points in the walk we would stop to create ephemeral sculptures from found objects. At other points the children would form circles, be silent and listen with eyes closed to the world around them. Then they would share what they heard in the ring. In a similar way the children reflected on what they could see. Photos and sound recordings of the walks were also taken. These resources were worked on back at the schools to create audio visual works and large scale 2D works for an exhibition which was held at Whitstable Museum Gallery. A DVD incorporating the found objects was created to augment the exhibition.