follow y/our river lea-minal edges: prompts for transitory states of being
at Borough Road Gallery, London May 2023
Borough Road Gallery
11 – 12 May 2023
paula roush, tamara stoll and hḗrā santos
msdm publications + road less travelled press
The project brings together the publishing practices of three artists, paula roush, tamara stoll,
and hḗrā santos. In the Fall of 2022 they followed the River Lea to explore its liminal conditions. The resulting publication "Follow Y/our River" explores the entanglement of human and non-human bodies of water, using walking, photography, and field notes to explore their liminal conditions.
For the book launch and exhibition at Borough Road Gallery in May 2023 they developed an editorial lab for readers to ‘follow y/our river,’ with an invitation to create their own constellation
of printed matter and activate prompts for transitory states of being in the gallery space.
The exhibition included a new large photographic installation developed by paula for héra's performance, which stems from their collaboration for the book. The stage design consists of hanging sculptural wearables that were incorporated into héra's performance of the book during the opening night.
1- Map
At the entrance to the gallery, the readers received a map to guide them around the working stations. The map includes a visual index, editorial text and colophon.
One poster duplex print,
42 x 59,4 cm, colour,
to fold into four pages
that create a cover.
2- THREE WAYS
Three posters duplex print
42 x 59,4 cm, colour,
with instructions to fold them
into pocketbooks.
Walk One —
Leamouth to Three Mills
Walk Two —
Back Rivers to Filter Beds
Walk Three —
Wick to Hale
3- Ritual Landscapes
Landscape-scale ecology
Archive of the Transitory
State of Being
Art therapy for a trans body
Body scans
Wet vortex
Nineteen spreads, duplex print,
29.7 x 42 cm, colour + b & w
to fold into A4 folios
3-Sixteen points of connection
Two pamphlets of portraits and landscapes to stitch together.
Twenty pages, 27,8 x 20,8 cm, colour
Sixteen pages, 14,7 x 14,7 cm,
b & w
4- Transitory states of being
Algae (river lea)
three postcards, cyanotypes,
21 x 14.8 cm, colour
+ Lea wateryquery
Various locations
One book, 52 pages,
14.7 x 10.4 cm,
perfect binding
colour and b&w
5- Registration
Each reader numbers and signs their edition out of 100;
Number and signature are added to the wall register.
PERFORMING THE BOOK
Performance with the book "Follow your river" and field recordings from the Lea Valley
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
The stage
Documentation: paula roush + joe webb
contact
paula roush ::: paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio ::: msdm@msdm.org.uk