MARSH BODIES

Listen to our 3-part podcast series following water from Bexley’s marshlands through silt and mud, to the clouds above our heads and the cells within our bodies, written by architects and artists Anyu Chan and Rosa Whiteley.

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MARSH BODIES is a 3-part podcast series, released each month from December 2023 to February 2024, developed as part of beneath the pavement, the marshes, a new creative programme bringing artists, activists and ecologists together with local environmental and community groups working in Bexley to explore the ground beneath our feet.⁠ 

The series follows the water of Bexley’s marshlands through silt and mud, to the cells within plant walls, ocean currents, brackish ponds, in the species living within the clouds and steam above our heads, and the water within our own cellular bodies. Each episode explores a quality of water that is amplified within the marshlands that FILTER, ERODE and LEAK. 

FILTER uncovers how the built environment is sieved through bodies of reeds, bivalves, water voles, ducks, and local volunteers. ERODE explores local resistance to the industrialisation and drainage of Bexley’s marshlands, most recently through a bid to build carbon-capture plants upon Crossness Nature Reserve. LEAK discusses how wet places seep into city operations, our cultural understandings, and civic responsibilities. 

Each episode features an interview with local residents and activists, including: Anji Peterson from Crossness River Action Group, Ralph Todd from Friends of Crossness Nature Reserve, and Donna Zimmer from Friends of Crayford Marshes. 

MARSH BODIES is written by architects and artists, Anyu Chan and Rosa Whiteley, commissioned by Three Rivers and funded by Arts Council England, with sound design by Jacob Norris and Alice Western.

Release Dates:

  1. FILTER: 13 December 2023
  2. ERODE: 10 January 2024
  3. LEAK: 7 February 2024

Available on Spotify here.

Rosa Whiteley is an artist and researcher, whose practice explores ecological politics in post industrial landscapes, through sound, installation, film and material exploration. Rosa engages in long-term collaborations to develop a variety of projects with artists, designers, scientists and craftspeople. 

Anyu Chan is an architect and artist whose research focuses on the interplay between our bodies and the bodies of water around us. Working with both architecture and multi-media, she explores the nuance of collective well-being in both marine life and that of our own.