Rising

A film by William Block.

RISING is a body of work by artist William Bock encompassing a film and a family of photographic portraits created in collaboration with residents living along the Shannon Estuary.

Introduced by William Block

For over a year the artist visited local people in County Clare who shared their experiences of living along the Shannon Estuary and the history of the river islands there. An old expression, ‘clean mud’ was spoken of which described a particular quality of silt. In the Ginanne family album he found images of generations of river islanders living closely with the river, moving cattle by boat, of island funerals or of friends crossing the river by boat all while negotiating the ever present and changing mud flats. 

For the artist this relationship between the human body and river silt came to represent the accumulated heritage of communities deeply entwined with this tidal river. It spoke too of deep geological time, of the changing use of the estuary and of rising sea levels to come. 

The artist worked with local people to create an experimental film. Set along the shores of the Shannon, the film features individuals and family groups totally covered in river mud. A farmer herds his cattle, an island family navigates the river by boat while a lone woman drags her suitcase through the silt. The soundscore combines field recordings of the river made by William Bock with an original sound score by Sean Macerlaine. 

Documentary and dream worlds collide as a community emerges from the river bed and return to their homes. These mud-covered people stand at the confluence of the old and new generations as they navigate a changing environment that will fundamentally challenge life along our shores.