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to engage with nature,
but also to transport
ɎǝƺȅɀƺǼɮƺɀƺǼɀƺɯǝƺȸƺٺ
water’s edge to read his paper. The Thames seems
to inspire these kind of cyclical activities and the
rhythm of that echoes the ebb and flow of
the tide – there’s a beauty in that.The contrast between the green images of the
countryside and the greyness of London is quite
pronounced. Was this just determined by the
time of year that you had to shoot the images?
Even though London can be beautifully sunny
and wonderful throughout the year, I feel like the
quintessential Thames weather is overcast. So for the
images of London, grey weather seemed appropriate!INTERVIEW138 DIGITAL CAMERA^ MARCH 2021 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
By contrast, there is something unbelievably
beautiful about the upper part of the Thames in
spring; it’s a bucolic extravaganza! I was able to
spend a lot of time there in the summer of 2013
because I was an artist in residence at St John’s
College, Oxford, living there for three or four months
and taking lots of photos. I’ve been on overnight
trips in various boats over the years. The Upper
Thames is such a beautiful part of England. I’m
so attracted to this section of the river when it’s
overgrown. On a hot summer’s day, it could be
anywhere in the world... perhaps not quite the
Amazon, but it certainly has an exotic feel.
This potential “otherness” of the Thames emerged
as a theme in the book: it acts as a stand-in for so
many other rivers, and other places. I think lots of
people come to the river to engage with nature, but
also to transport themselves elsewhere. If you think
about the saying ‘All rivers flow into one another’,
then the Thames is actually physically connected
to the Ganges, the Congo and all the world’s rivers.
I frequently enjoyed “losing myself” on the
upper sections of the Thames.Growing up in London, surely it’s easy
to take the River Thames for granted?
In London, people generally cross the river much
more than ever being on it. In adulthood, rushing
back and forth over different bridges, I barely even
looked at the water, and Thames Log includes
photographs of morning commuters in dark
clothes, flowing over London Bridge on their way
into the City. I think this is the experience for so
many Londoners, living or working so close to the
river but effectively ignoring it. The project was an
opportunity for me to spend time really looking
at it, considering it. Like London, the Thames is
endlessly changing and reinventing itself. There’s
always so much happening, when I look back
even five years after shooting, I realise there
are lots more things I could have included...When it comes to the river reinventing itself,
what are the biggest changes you’ve witnessed?
The way that parts of London, from Putney to
Vauxhall and so on, have changed over the last five
to 10 years is just shocking. It has been completely
transformed from places that used to have
neighbourhoods into an uninterrupted stretchTop: Reading the Sunday
papers, Grays, 2011.Above: Mudlarking,
Putney, 2011.Opposite top: Morris dancing
on May Day, Oxford, 2013.Opposite bottom: Pagan
river ritual, Oxford, 2013.©^2021Chloe^ Dewe^ Mathews;^ courtesy^ LooseJoints