Last chance to see Tidal Traces my current exhibition at the The Old Operating
Theatre and Herb Garret which ends on 30th September.
https://thamesfestivaltrust.org/whats-on/tidal-traces-art-trail-and-video-work-17380/

Tidal Traces draws attention to issues relating to the River Thames through a series of free-hanging installation works and time-lapse video.

The project continues my exploration of environmental issues looking at material that finds its way into the Thames either through natural phenomena or human activity, and how this impacts on the health of the river’s ecosystem and its effect on the surrounding population. I’ve used debris recovered from the foreshore at various points along the river – plastic netting, nails, sand, silt, aged wood, charcoal, algae, bones – to create impressions using cyanography, chromatography and eco printing to represent both the visible and the invisible with particular reference to micro fibre plastic and pharmaceutical contamination.

One aim was to generate a dialogue between the artwork and museum exhibits, to draw parallels between the historical artefacts and the remnants washed up by the Thames and to consider the relevance of the river in each case.

Blister packs have been depicted, not only to draw comparisons to the Victorian method of pill production, but also to allude to the problem of pharmaceutical content in the River Thames today. References to the moon point to role tidal cycles have to play in the transformation of the foreshore by the materials and objects that are washed up.

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. Irsara has 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. Coming from the Dolomite region of Northern Italy, I’m particularly interested in natural habitats in urban settings and how we relate to these, in particular the ever-changing, tidal aspect of the Thames.

The exhibition is supported by Team London Bridge and The Old Operating Theatre Museum & Herb Garret as part of their programme for Totally Thames 2023.