Story

Holding the rain: MA Art and Science x Joya:AIR

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People standing and working on dry desert ground, some are wearing gloves and clearing the ground. There are trees in the background and piled logs, on with a gentle slope

Written by
Cat Cooper Published date
04 June 2024

Holding Rain in the Headwater

Documentary by Nana Maiolini

Can time spent in deep collaboration with nature nourish us as individuals and artists? Holding Rain in the Headwater takes us to Spain and back in an art and environment residency, Earth Day project and documentary, with MA Art and Science transforming the land and their relationship to it.

'Holding Rain in the Headwater' in collaboration with Spanish art and ecology platform Joya: arte + ecología (Joya: AiR) responded to the 2024 LVMH Maison/0 Challenge Fund call for proposals on the theme of water.

Over ten days in February, MA Art and Science students and staff responded physically and creatively to the earth in Almería, southern Spain: the driest part of Europe. They helped to restore an ancient water capture system and created artworks inspired by the landscape and their immersion in this remote mountainside environment. The water catchment project involved building check dams and planting native vegetation to hold the rain and reduce erosion.

We planted with native species. The compacted ground was hard to dig. An individual terrace had to be created for each plant and filled with goat manure. Some stone walling was employed. Pine needles and flat rocks gathered to place around each plant to prevent evaporation. Finally, watering done from huge canisters in a place which has had no decent rainfall since last May.

— Juliet Williams, student

Student Fawziyah Rahman reading
Mariia Korneeva: Detail. Cyanotype on wood in clay water. Work. Firebreak. Mariia creates a series of cyanotype prints that translate her engagement with Joya desert. She worked with shapes and patterns of the land. Materials: Green paper, cyanotype, salt, sand and stones.
Poiesis, Silvana Maestro. After gathering the likeness of the landscape and blossoms in photographs, there’s a move from representation to creation. The images are digitally manipulated and changed to create something new, bringing forth something that didn’t exist before.

The project was an opportunity for students to engage with a real-world environmental context where the capture and retention of water is key to all lives in the eco-system ((human and nonhuman) and their complex interrelationships. Through direct experience of the environment and through local expertise, they learned about climate, biodiversity, weather patterns, engineering, land management, botany, agriculture and agro-economies, cultural heritage and creative action.

A series of black and white prints of plants and objects from nature — Prints by Charlotte Bassadone. In response to the Joya desert, Charlotte created a series of prints. She worked from found objects and plants, which she exhibited in the studio. Materials: Black acrylic paint on paper.

That was my first time working on land with the land. It allowed me to learn and adopt environmentally aware behaviour and appreciate the desert as a place where I want to continue creating my art. I was at peace and concentrated on my artistic practice and working on the restoration of the water catchment system. I found this experience transformative and essential. I felt like an artist for the first time in my life, and this experience formed my future work and where I want to be in the future.

— Mariia Korneeva, student

I made sense of the landscape, its history and water problems through sketching. I set myself the challenge of creating with only charcoal, paper and a limited palette of seven watercolours. Through closely observing found objects and vernacular tools and utensils, I realised how lightly the previous generations of Joya had trodden on the land.

— Juliet Williams

A hanging see through banner with algae and embroidery and King' Cross buildings in the background — River treads: Sigrid Bannerman. Connecting the Spanish barranco with London waterways to draw attention to the shared problem of future flooding by using algae harvested in the Thames in London and embroidery.

Site to Site: King’s Cross

In the run-up to Earth Day in April, the group resituated their experiences in London, connecting with the rich nature around us in King’s Cross and encountering water preservation issues at home on the Estate.

On 19 April they presented Site to Site, an afternoon of public exhibits, activities and encounters sharing art, group making and audience activities along the green corridor of Kings Cross estate. They created a sculpture trail leading from gasholders park along Bagley Walk to the canalside steps, where visitors were greeted by a soundscape of the dawn chorus, bringing the sounds of the mountainside bird life from Almería to Kings Cross.

Participatory activities included a printmaking workshop using locally sourced plants cut down from the gardens for the new season; and a drawing meditation performance, connecting people with the ground beneath them.

Site to Site brought Art and Science into collaboration with the Estate's head gardener Des Smith, whose team manage the plots, lawns and planters enjoyed by residents, workers and visitors to King’s Cross. The site is home to multiple species of tree, plant and flower and the bees and insects who aerate the soil, pollinate and support nature over 12 acres of grounds and rooftops.

They found synergies between the environmental issues encountered in Spain and our central London landscape. Both geographies share a concern around water preservation and the need to nurture and protect biodiversity. Des has been adapting management of the site’s horticulture to a changing climate, cutting down the volume of watering from 180k litres to 50k annually and feeding the soil with all organic and natural fertiliser such as seaweed. Much of the Estate now relies on rainfall irrigation, but it means a regular supply of rain is needed to promote rooting or flowering and to keep the plants and trees across the site healthy.

With a reciprocal visit by the Joya: AIR team for the event, Site to Site closed with a preview screening of a special documentary film made by Nana Maiolini following the group on their encounter in Spain and presentations and discussion between students and MA Art and Science staff and Joya:AIR, exploring how best to hold and cherish rain.

Not being apart from nature makes us advocates for our mutual benefit. The CSM residency collaborated in the restoration of our water catchment system which is, in effect, a climate crisis response. ‘Holding Rain in the Headwater’ contributed greatly in our attempts to mitigate the adverse effects of human-induced environmental decline. But more importantly our actions connected with principles more associated with Deep Ecology, expressing the need for radical change in the way we interact with nature.

— Simon Beckmann, curator and co-founder of Joya: AiR

A person with a sketchpad drawing as they look at the skyline from a bridge in King's Cross — **Observational Drawing: Juliet Williams drawing at King's Cross. Creating parallels by observing the very different dominant structures in the urban landscape.**

We really saw how contributing to a live environment project, by helping restore the water catchment system at Joya influenced the students’ individual creative work. There was a strong reciprocal exchange between working the land and responding creatively to the experience of being in that landscape. Their collective labour made a significant difference to the water restoration project and the artwork they produced reflected a deepened consideration of land, material use, water preservation, shifting landscapes, and challenges to biodiversity.

— Heather Barnett, Pathway Leader MA Art and Science and project lead for Holding Rain in the Headwater.

Stone Cosmology, Julian Udine: Stone Cosmology is the "mapmaking" of a large stone found in Joya, which was inked and rolled across canvas to imprint its topography and unfurl its inner cosmologies.
Charlotte Bassadone: This is a detail of a print of a plant genus called Moricandia DC, which is from the Brassicaceae family and is native to arid areas, including Spain. Materials: Black acrylic paint on paper.
Earth Maintenance: site responsive sculpture by Jane Scobie. The Rings are woven from Bagley Walk plants. This work formed part of the Site to Site Sculpture Trail.

Final reflections

The Joya residency gave me insights into working collaboratively with fellow students, tutors, and locals to draw attention to the pressing environmental issues caused by the lack of rain in Europe’s driest area. My work focused on themes of fragility and potential extinction, which sparked discussions about the region’s flora and the challenges it faces. There was a feeling of unity and togetherness as we all ate together, sang together, and planted together.

— Charlotte Bassadone, student

This residency offered me the space I needed to slow down and think about the inner ecosystem of my artistic practice. We learned quite a lot about Joya’s water scarcity, vulnerable environmental features, and how even the smallest elements are intrinsically linked to everything else. This offered a new lens to examine my own practice. I became more aware of the connections and disconnections within my work, and began to make sense of the relationships between my ideas, my mediums, and the mental tools I use to explore the world around me.

— Julian Udine, student

A person wearing an eye mask laying on the ground with a series of sketches above their head — Urban Connection, Katreena Dee. Katreena leads a meditative blind contour drawing session at King's Cross. Using methods developed in Joya, Katreena reconnects with nature by doing a series of performative meditation drawings to create dialogue with viewers.

Credits

Holding Rain in the Headwater was organised by Heather Barnett, Pathway Leader, MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins and Simon and Donna Beckmann, Joya: AiR. With additional contributions by Maite Fraide Garcia (ecologist and environmental educator) and Alba Rodriguez Rodriguez (University of Almería). The project was supported by the LVMH Maison/0 Challenge Fund, which aims to develop creative collaborations through student and graduate-led engagement designed around a specific brief or challenge - this year related to water.

Participating students: Sigrid Bannenberg, Charlotte Bassadone, Katreena Dee, Mariia Korneeva, Silvina Maestro, Fawziyah Rahman, Jane Scobie, Julian Udine, Juliet Williams.

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