River Works
Anne Lydiat on board her home/studio MB Rock. Photo: Katherine Fawssett, www.katherinefawssett.com
On 02.02.02 I moved on board the Medway Coaster MB Rock with my husband Chris Wainwright. The barge was moored in the Pool of London on the south side of the River Thames on Tower Bridge Moorings (51.5055° N 0.0754°), part of a small community of houseboats. The flood tide came upstream twice a day lifting the vessels 7.5 meters and then turned on the ebb back to the sea. This floating existence totally changed my outlook on life and shaped who I have become as an artist.
In December 2008 we moved Rock onto the purpose built moorings at Hermitage located on the north side of the river. In her element is an ongoing series of writings and artworks made in my studio in the ‘hold’ of the vessel that record the physical resonances and trace the constant somatic movement. These artworks are dynamic and durational, echoing the ebb and flow of the tides, utilising the architectural elements of the vessel, in particular the portholes (the lens or eyes of the ship) that look out onto the riverscape. I photograph and video my presence on the inside, gazing outside onto the river beyond - evoking a sense of intimacy and distance, a liminal, transitional place, a withdrawing on water.
MB Rock at its launch in ROCHESTER
Rock launch Rochester 1961. Photo: UNKNOWN
MB Rock at Hermitage Moorings. Photo: Anne Lydiat 2010
A selection of ship drawings made on board MB Rock. (2013-2018)
Invisible Drawings, drawings made using a chalk pebble (crushed) found on the shoreline, adjacent to MB Rock. (2013)
Porthole photographs taken on board MB Rock. (2012 - 2018)
Fog at Hermitage Community Moorings, River Thames. (2011)
Wheelhouse Reflections, photographs taken on board MB Rock. (2012-2018)
Abstract River, photographs taken on board MB Rock. (2013)
Archeology on the River Thames, a selection of objects found by members of Hermitage. (2008)
