Open day and residency images, Ann Rapstoff

photography by Hilary kneale and Roger Perkins

Open day and residency images, Hilary Kneale

Day five and six

I have spent time researching the history of Amelia Dyer, she was mentioned in the small museum here at Blakes Lock, which resulted in further investigation. Her shadow and that of the children she killed in Reading has been haunting me. I spend time walking to the lock in Caversham, where one of the children was found. I locate the street and house off Oxford Road where Dyer lived. I ask myself what my interest is - what draws me to this history? It stems from my interest in immersion in water, under my skin, in naming the unamed, trying to bring to light/life a lost name, a place which goes on as if nothing has happened.

I have been fascinated by making drawn maps through visual and aural mark making and decide to do the walk to Caversham Lock again, plotting the sounds and sites through marks for the next day.

Day three

I have bought a large galvinised steel bath, did people really use these? I spend the morning walking back and forth dipping my bucket into the river and filling the bath, the rythmn is satifying. I photograph my feet moving in the bath, the light makes them disappear. I tie a water carrier to the beam and drip water through the cracks in the floor boards, river to river. I think about Amelia Dyer and decide to go to the library, she was executed in the 1890's for killing children and placing them in the river up the road in Caversham. I have been thinking a great deal about drowning and immersion in water, I feel I need to name these children to honour them in some way. I spend the afternoon in the library researching. Tomorrow I will go to Clappers footpath to the place where several of the children were found.

Early days of the residency

The residency has started, we have taken time to feel our way into the space, we have our different ways of doing this. I am keen to work with Hilary, as she has a great deal of experience in somatic practice, I also want to play and let ideas evolve, time - lots of - time - allowing things to perculate.

We move objects in, clearing, placing, breathing in the space. I spend time inhabiting the space, looking into cracks in the floor boards, beneath the surface. Day one felt like I was nesting, I collected water in a bucket from the Kennet and washed the floor, it felt like a ritual, some sort of cleansing process, or perhaps just a way to get going. Hilary photographed me, and it reminded me of other work we have shared in the past; we don't have to speak too much, I trust her judgement I know she will document the work as if she knows it. I am so pleased to be working with and alongside Hilary. We talked about how artists influence each other, and agreed we didn't mind if the work merged together without any ownership.

Can I let myself live with not knowing and just wait for the work to unfold??

We sit and watch the water, we listen externally and internally, the water is constant, like bubbling olive oil beneath us. The gallery, once an old turbine space reaches out onto the Kennet, we are above it, there is a life around us, a Heron watching.

We move letting go of parts of the body, getting to know the body, the water beneath, the ground beneath, I claim the space as my feet expand

a residency coming up at The Turbine House Gallery

Hilary Kneale and Ann Rapstoff
24 May - 5th June (closed Sundays)
The artists continue pursuing their interest in the elemental nature of water
and its cycles, while responding to the Turbine House environment.

Come along to an open day Saturday 5th of June 11am - 5pm
where you wil be able to see work in progress resulting from their time on the residency , including, research, discussion and performance. Invited guests will be poets, Lesley Saunders and Kate Noakes, who will be reading their work concerning responses to water and rivers at 1500. Please contact us for times of performances, on 07703 182 186

Hilary Kneale
Ann Rapstoff

The residency is located at The Turbine House Gallery, Riverside Museum of Reading, Blake's Lock off Kenavon Drive, RG1 3DH