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In The Open | Lucie Winterson & Clare Davies 

River

Having been paired for collaboration, we very quickly found that our sources for engagement and inspiration were mutually shared. We both have deep connections with rivers and sea so it has been a natural impulse to explore this process by using a river. In this case, the River Taw on Dartmoor. Our combined endeavours are ones of creating movement through texts and visual layering to index the mood of the 'post' era that we now live in. Clare's poetic sequence expresses the utterances of the river that conveys a sense of human separation from our environment; while Lucie's techniques of layering photographs and painting explore the liminal space between a river and its bank. We have come together to convey this space, devoid of human interference, by way of a fusion of photography and words that are woven into the movement of the river giving a sense of ‘utterance’ in parallel to the sound of rushing (or still) water.

Our work is a response to Timothy Morton's 'Dark Ecology', and his view that we have to give up nature in order to have ecology. He argues that we humans have romantic ideals attached to nature that have been encouraged by Romanticism in the arts. Clare's poetry sequence has expanded on his view that 'nature is this thing over there', and Lucie aims to touch on the kernel of engagement with nature; the space where nature knows what it needs to do, or in Morton's words 'the knowing that knows itself’.

Lucie Winterson’s practice involves working closely with nature in the shadow of climate change, nature loss and the challenges of the anthropocene.  She increasingly sees her work as part of an imperative to creatively engage as fully with ‘nature’ as possible and to examine and unfold new spaces and understandings. She is especially interested in exploring ways to articulate the mutualities and common spaces between human and other life forms. She works in painting, photography and digital collage. She trained at Central St Martins and Winchester/Barcelona school of Art.Recent exhibitions include’Into the Amazon’ studio show, Hackney WickED festival, London,Flowers Gallery London, December 2016 and the TRELEX residency in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest 2015/16.

http://www.luciewinterson.co.uk

Clare Davies is a poet, essayist and English/creative writing teacher.

Contributions published in 'Wall of Words' Norcap, Plymouth Theatre Royal, and Arts Safari, S. Devon. Response in Poetry to Robert Manners, artist: 'Fathoms Fragments and Fieldwork'

Exploring the themes of loss and disconnection has been at the heart of recent work. I am currently working on a collection of poems that explore and celebrate the mental well-being of women, and how this may act as an agent in making life choices.