Sabrina and the Long View

With new (under)currents re-mixing the waters of the Severn Estuary, Somerset Levels, Shannon Estuary and the Wadden Sea, these are some muddy notes freshly dredged up and now drying off in the sun...

Aliveness Machines, Shadows and Undercurrents

Posting up here the content of a presentation - by NOVA - at the RGS annual conference recently. This is a collaborative project with Jon Pigott. The geographical genesis of the project - in the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of North Devon - lies slightly beyond the limits of the Severn Estuary, but arguably still within this 'bio-region'. Strictly speaking, the River Torridge flows into the Bristol Channel. However, for the Sabrina Dreaming residency, I tend to regard the Severn Estuary as encompassing the whole tidal waterbody spilling out between Wales and the West Country.

The Aust Goddess and other findings

Shamal

A mini-theme that seems to be emerging during my early coastal residency explorations is that of boat names. The third vessel to be now added to this roll-call is the Shamal (a wind that blows across Persia, it seems):

"shamal,  hot and dry, dusty wind from the north or northwest in Iraq, Iran, and the Arabian Peninsula. In June and July it blows almost continuously, but usually under 50 km (about 30 miles) per hour. The wind causes great dust storms, especially in July, when Baghdad may experience five or more such storms."...

Making Space For Water

Some of the following is re-published from antonylyons.blogspot.co.uk

Some context for Sabrina Dreaming:
Undeniably - in the case of England - the predominant theme, to date, in 2014 has been water/flooding/storms. There are strong indications that climate instability is ushering in periods of global extreme weather, with potentially very significant social and landscape implications...

The Tide Is High

Matilda

A Creative 'Slow Residency'
Beginning in Spring 2014, Sabrina Dreaming (Severn Estuary Tidelands) sets out to creatively reimagine this estuary coastline and floodplain, through an interweaving of the scientific (landscape study, pollution, flooding etc); the social/cultural (working lives, folklore, built heritage etc); and the imaginative (stories, myths, poetry, inspirations etc). The terms geopoetic and deep mapping can be useful in describing this kind of remixed, hybrid exploration of a place.
In this year-long experimental project, the surreal and unsettling qualities of a dream will come into play, anchored in the real, physical, sensuous experience of these tidelands and tidewaters (including entanglements with other tidal coasts around the world)...