Cynthia Barlow Marrs SGFA

Portfolio: • The Portable Series

Undercurrents  - Ten views through a river of words

Undercurrents - Ten views through a river of words

Undercurrents on The Wall in the Thames Gallery at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames.

Undercurrents is a five metre-long section through an imaginary river of words. Colour flows across ten canvases to suggest the narrative flow of a story. Each canvas is 120cm tall and 50 cm wide.

Undercurrents draws on my previous experience as an environmental planner, my current career as an artist and my ongoing experience as a student of creative writing.

One of my land planning projects was the strategic plan for a flood alleviation scheme. We drew many sections across and along a proposed new river channel. For Undercurrents I imagined myself standing in a river channel with stories flowing downstream all around me, the water's surface just above my head. I filled the channel with quotations about the flow of water, of words, of creative expression.

The installation was developed in response to the exhibition space The Wall in the Thames Gallery of the River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames. The exhibition opened in November 2007 and ran for three months. Undercurrents has travelled to the Grandstand at Royal Windsor Racecourse and to other exhibitions of mine, both group and solo.