I’m very proud to be one of the featured artists for Totally Thames 2023 (Thames Festival)
This year, I’ll be exhibiting at The Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret throughout September. Tidal Traces draws attention to issues relating to the River Thames through a series of free-hanging installations, time-lapse video and family workshop. As well as a chance to see my current work, this is an opportunity to see an atmospheric museum that offers a unique insight into the history of medicine and surgery.
THE OLD OPERATING THEATRE MUSEUM
AND HERB GARRET
9a St Thomas St, London, SE1 9RY
In addition to the exhibition, I’ll be holding an evening screening of three video works with Q & A (19th September 6.00 – 8.15pm) where you will also have the opportunity to see the installation and museum for free. Tickets are limited for this so I would urge you to book only if you are definitely attending.
Entry to the exhibition at other times does not require booking but is subject to the museum’s normal admission charge.
OPENING TIMES AND DATES
Fri 1st – Sat 30th Sep 2023
10:30am – 5pm
Museum opening times:
Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 10.30am – 5.00pm (last admission is 4.15pm)
Drop-in family workshop:
Sunday 3 September 2023, 11am – 4.30pm
available with paid entry to the museum
TICKETS
Entry price to the museum for exhibition and workshop
Adult: £7.50
Concessions: £6.00
Child 6-16 years: £4.50
Children under 6 years: Free
Carers (with a full paying adult, concession or child ticket): Free
Family (2 adults, 2 children): £18.00, additional child, £1 each
Tidal Traces is supported by
Totally Thames, Team London Bridge and The Old Operating Theater and Herb Garret
TIDAL TRACES
The site-specific installation, continues my exploration of environmental issues, looking at material that finds its way into the Thames through natural phenomena and human activity, and the impact on the health of the river’s eco-system and the surrounding population. Recovering debris from the foreshore at various points along the river – plastic netting, nails, sand, silt, aged wood, charcoal, algae, bones – I create work using video, cyanography, chromatography and micrography to represent both the visible and the invisible, in particular micro fibre plastic and pharmaceutical contaminants.
Multiple elements make up the final site-specific installation which, in part, looks at the pharmaceutical contamination in the river alongside the healing qualities of the apothecary herbs featured in the Herb Garret at the museum.
TIME-LAPSE VIDEO
Metamorphosis (6 min 39 sec) 2019
River Net (9 min 10 sec) 2022
Silt (6 min 10 sec) 2023
The video works, each comprised of a series of time-lapse sequences, are a reflection on our impact on the Thames, including chemical and pharmaceutical discharge into the river leading to, among other things, antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The work is intended to encourage debate on the effects of our actions on the natural balance and how we can re-establish and maintain healthy ecosystems. I’ve used a range of materials in the creation of the videos including silt, sand and algae, as well as man-made and organic objects retrieved from the foreshore at low tide. Tidal cycles are recreated using small-scale models, shot at 25 second intervals as liquid is slowly drained away. In other sequences, ice has been used to animate the forms. The soundtrack for all videos was created by Jonathan Lambert.
Irma Irsara 