Paul's Walk: Joy Gerrard
Paul’s Walk: Tunnel/Map/Draw, Joy Gerrard
Year
2016
Client
fereday pollard for Tideway
Artist
Joy Gerrard
Service
Commission Management
Location
Blackfriars, London
A collage for the hoarding at Blackfriars Bridge
Working with twenty four Year-3 pupils from the nearby City of London School, Gerrard produced a dynamic artwork in response to the great expanse of water that moves through our city and the extraordinary engineering feat of the Thames Tideway Tunnel that is being created beneath the surface. The artwork was installed beneath Blackfriars Bridge from November 2016 to February 2017.
Gerrard and the children considered the River from distinct but related perspectives – mapping and engineering. Drawing inspiration from the bold visual language of artist Kazimir Malevich and the Russian constructivists, the team created ‘mental’ maps based on their walking routes around the River. Generating a graphic representation of the multiple levels of layering and planning that go beneath, through and around the Thames. Punctuating the map are photographs that capture the hands-on experience of the students who visually investigated the engineering concepts of how to control liquid.
“This artwork makes me think of the river as the heart of industry, and that fact that it has always been at the centre of the economy, historically.”
Their combined efforts offer a visualisation that reveals the hidden and complex systems of transformative engineering projects in an urban setting.
“Tunnel/Map/Draw was a stimulating commission to work on. It gave me the opportunity to place vibrant, abstract and colourful patterns right in the street-scape. This was exciting, and contrasted with my current studio work, which is monochrome and more figurative. I found that thinking about the tunnel, it’s linear systems and flows was very visually liberating. I made collages and watercolour drawings as the basis for the end design, and these were unexpectedly fun to work on. The Blackfriars Bridge is one of my favourite places in London. I loved having the opportunity to research maps and aerial views for this specific site.”
Joy Gerrard is an Irish born artist who reflects on how individuals consider themselves within the world, particularly an urban world. Much of her work has involved looking at the city from above, producing visualisations of systems and networks through models, drawings and photographic works.
The images she creates are informed by the underlying structure and design of the city, and closely scrutinise the spaces that enable and contain urban populations.
Gerrard studied at the Royal College of Art, London and the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. She has been commissioned and exhibited extensively across Britain and internationally.
For more information see:
www.tideway.london