THE RIVER - 2005

Artist in Residency
Arts & Business
See other pieces done during the Residency

As part of the work I developed with and for the staff of Arts & Business, during a recent residency there, I took them for a walk along the Thames.

We visited the City Hall to read Ben Okri's poem Lines in Potentis, followed by lunch at the office. I prepared a home cooked feast made of dishes from all over the world.

I wanted to create for them an experience that would speak of diversity without mentioning the word, and that referred both to my presence as a foreigner / artist in their work environment, and to their own expressed concerns about diversity in their work force.


"One of the magic centres
Of the world;
One of the world's
Dreaming places.
Ought to point the way
To the world.
Here lives the great music
Of humanity
The harmonisation of different
Histories, cultures, geniuses,
And dreams.
Ought to shine to the world
And tell everyone
That history, though unjust,
Can yield wiser outcomes.
And out of bloodiness
Can come love
Out of slave-trading
Can come a dance of souls,
Out of division, unity;
Out of chaos, fiestas."

Ben Okri - Lines in Potentis (extract)