Estuary Festival

Hand painted for ESTUARY FESTIVAL

Chalkwell Hall, located in one of the festival spots - Chalkwell Park, gives a vibrant taste of the journaling project ‘The Water Replies’. The hall features an exhibition of window displays and colourful murals which celebrate 100 journals filled by local people.

The project began during the first three months of last year’s lockdown, and blank journals were sent to individuals and families across the coastline, inviting creative responses to life along the water. Over Zoom, they joined workshops led by published poets Selina Nwulu and Caroline Bird to share pages of the unexpected, thoughtful, funny, moving, short, long, momentary, mundane, extraordinary and everything in between.

Designs by @amokamok, murals by @joeandcharlotte, films by @andydelaney & Graham Tobias

Read the full interview about my participation here.

More about the festival:

23 Days of Art, Music, Literature and Film.

Estuary 2021 is the second edition of the large-scale arts festival that celebrates the lives, landscapes and histories of the spectacular Thames Estuary.
Taking place on the river itself, and along the 83 miles of South Essex and North Kent coastline, contemporary artworks, discussion and events explore and respond to powerful themes resonant to the estuary.

Artworks set in the landscape, online and within Covid-safe venues, explore the estuary through the lens of contemporary concerns, including climate justice, protest and rebellion, imperial legacy and the rich, often overlooked stories of its diverse communities, bringing new audiences to a deeper understanding of the estuary.

Estuary 2021 is led by a partnership between estuary-based arts organisations, Metal (South Essex) and Cement Fields (North Kent).