Until you became me is a series of site-specific, collaborative exhibitions. Working in various historical mills powered by the flows and tides of rivers, Karen Le Roy Harris and Miriam Sedacca have responded to these sites by considering the energetic and creative potential of water. At Le Moulin de Quétivel they are joined for the first time by Heather Ryall who has created a unique soundscape. With the consciousness that our bodies are two-thirds water, the exhibition considers how this liquid, which constitutes our physical being, flows through us and joins us to all other beings. It connects us with the environments and bodies of water that sustain life throughout the planet. Water is also the milieu in which all new life comes into being, leading the artists to consider water as a medium for creating work.

 

Karen Le Roy Harris’ ceramic pieces combine with found and cast objects from the Lea and Thames rivers and Jersey’s shore, forming an installation where bodily forms morph into plastic waste and objects taking on the flowing form of a river. She has crafted vessels which hold water within them, whilst inviting us to consider water itself as a vessel for the life and objects which it holds and carries. Water slowly and hypnotically drips into them from above. Contrary to this, her papier-mâché sculptures consider the scarcity of water and life and are designed to be worn or passed through as extensions of our own bodies to empathise with the nature we so often wound. 

 

In Miriam Sedacca’s kinetic installation water runs through ambiguous objects with textures reminiscent of skin and bone, which become part of a cyclical system through the flow that joins them. Her film installations vacillate between multiplicity and singularity, and juxtapose the human form with aquatic species that live collectively as part of the ecosystems that sustain them. The form of a body projected on water is constantly morphing, considering the potential for our bodies to join with others, multiply, or become more than they currently are.

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Heather Ryall’s soundscape for the exhibition is a response to Karen and Miriam’s work within the context of Le Moulin de Quétivel in sonic form. Drawing on field recordings taken across Jersey and within the working Mill itself, Heather weaves these textures through extended techniques and live electronics on the clarinet to create an immersive musical installation and an evocative atmosphere that changes as visitors move through the space.

  

Work from until you became me has previously been exhibited at St Mary’s Mill, Gloucestershire, and The House Mill, London. The touring project has been made possible by generous support from Arts Council England, Stroudwater Textile Trust, The House Mill Trust, National Trust for Jersey and ArtHouse Jersey.