Chambers Wharf, London
Chambers Wharf: Stories from the Sewer, John Walter
Year
2017
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Artist
John Walter
Service
Commission Management
Location
Chambers Street, Bermondsey, London
A mural created in collaboration with sixteen pupils from Riverside Primary School
History, direct observation, fantasy and mythology all find a place within this epic collage of images, which plots the narrative of an imaginary sewer - a deep and mysterious realm beneath Bermondsey. Here, Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mister Fox brushes shoulders with Old Father Thames, London’s very own River God; here a family of gigantic fatbergs (masses of solid fat and unmentionable household waste that conglomerate in sewers) and various superheroes play beside Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the engineer of the Victorian sewer built after the Great Stink of 1858. Alongside their imagined characters you can also find the children’s self-portraits, and forms based on the rubbings they took from the street’s manhole covers. The mural also features a drawing of the CEO of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, creator of London’s new super sewer.
Hear from John about creating the work as part of this video.
For more information see www.tideway.london
“I took a picture of it on the first day and thought: Wow!” … “It brings lots of energy when I walk to work in the morning.” …“It’s amazing. Before it was really boring but now it is an attraction. People come to see it.”
This immense artwork began with a series of workshops delivered by Walter, which introduced the pupils to a wide range of drawing techniques and graphic styles, alongside research into the history and future of London’s sewers. Walter reinterpreted, layered and juxtaposed dozens of their images, using a variety of techniques from the linear to 3-D rendered forms that float in deep pictorial space. Walter’s artistic practice stems from painting, and uses a high-colour palette and complex repertoire of techniques to dazzling effect.
Dr. John Walter is a British artist, curator and director, academic and writer. Walter’s installations are grounded in theoretical and empirical research, and they seduce visitors into engaging with complex and often uncomfortable subjects such as sexual health or sewerage through an exuberant use of colour, humour and hospitality. He creates fictions that begin with his personal experience and quote the voices of others, weaving them together into new epic works. The term Maximalist, which best describes his work, refers to an additive practice that values the relationships between things rather than their qualities in isolation.
Participants were invited to gather along Chambers Street where the artist will discuss this epic artwork that was created in collaboration with pupils from Riverside Primary School and which responds to historical research as well as the fantasy and mythology of the sewers beneath our feet.
Stories from the Sewer is a graphic hoarding work which explores and celebrates the vital role of the London sewer in history and fiction.
This event was part of Totally Thames 2017, which takes place over the month of September and brings the river to life via an exciting season of arts, cultural and river events throughout the 42-mile stretch of the Thames in London.