Rivers of the World
Nile, Ganges, Yangtze, Liesbeek, Thames Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council with support from HSBC Global Education Trust and funding from DfES – The London Challenge
Rivers of the World Sponsor Messages A primary aim of the HSBC Global Education Trust is to promote international understanding. We recognise the importance of young people exchanging ideas and developing knowledge of other societies, not least through the medium of art. For the second year running, HSBC Global Education Trust is proud to sponsor the Rivers of the World exhibition at the Thames Festival. The vibrant artwork not only reveals the marvellous results of dialogue between students in five cities, but also brightens a long stretch of the South Bank. Art is a universal language, its infinite variety nourished by culture and tradition. As the exhibition travels to riverside locations in the other participating cities of Kolkata, Cairo, Chongqing and Cape Town, millions will have the chance to admire the creativity of young people from across the world. A message from Stephen Green, Group Chairman, HSBC
The British Council is delighted to be a partner of the Rivers of the World project, using the arts and creativity for intercultural dialogue and to have enabled schools in India, China, Egypt and South Africa to take part in the project. Martin Davidson, Chief Executive, British Council
The Rivers of the World project provides a dynamic learning opportunity. It lifts the curriculum into a different environment, builds on young people’s awareness and interpretation of their own location and helps them to understand the lives and experiences of others across the world. The project brings learning alive, provides real purpose, and is a stunning example of what young people can produce. Mick Waters, Director of Curriculum, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
For three weeks in August and September, London’s south bank riverside walkway is spectacularly transformed with giant works of art created through an ambitious international project linking schools from across the globe. From September 2007 through to May 2008, these same artworks are also displayed in high profile riverside locations in London, Chongqing, Kolkata, Cape Town and Cairo. During this time, an exhibition of quarter-sized artworks will be toured to more formal gallery environments.
Rivers of the World has involved creative contributions from 1,800 pupils in fifty-eight secondary schools in five countries. The project has forged international links between schools in London and schools in selected cities overseas. Education resource material was written and posted on www.thamesfestival.org which class groups of thirteen- and fourteen-year-old pupils could access to study their river and its meanings in their city. Six river themes provided a framework to compare the rivers, and a chosen design style for each class group helped to channel the pupils’ creativity. The pupils’ findings provided inspiration for drawings, paintings, photographs, sound and video files and other media. Professional art and design facilitators helped the class groups to manipulate their work on computers. The aim of the project was for the pupils to work together and for each class group to create a single and coherent artwork that integrated contributions from all the pupils in the class.
In 2007, the featured rivers (and partnered cities) were the River Thames (London, UK), the Yangtze River (Chongqing, China), the River Ganges (Kolkata, India), the River Liesbeek (Cape Town, South Africa) and the River Nile (Cairo, Egypt). The six river themes are: River of Life (the rivers’ ecosystems and distinctive plants, and the different wildlife that lives in and around each waterway); Polluted River (efforts to keep their river-water clean, drinking water, sewerage, pollution and how these issues have changed over time); Resourceful River (the effects on each river of global warming, flooding, dams, irrigation and ensuing river calamities); Working River (distinctive boats and the people whose lives and livelihood depend on their waterway); River City (the changing politics of river space, including riverside developments, bridges, docks, leisure and river attractions) and River Culture (the river in art and culture, the river as play space and sacred place, river explorers, famous events that have taken place on the river, river sports and river festivals).
Thames Festival is a two-day spectacular, free celebration of London and its river; an exciting mix of arts, spectacle and entertainment, all focused around the River Thames. The Festival commissions new work, and transforms unusual spaces on and around the River Thames with a mixture of street arts, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, river events, massed choirs, circus and music. The finale is a spectacular illuminated Night Carnival on the streets of the capital, started by London’s Mayor, Ken Livingstone. A vivid mix of masquerade, dance, music, illuminated sculptures and fantastic costumes, the Night Carnival winds along the north and south banks of the Thames. This is followed by a spectacular fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.
In 2008 and subsequent years, the project will expand, adding new countries and new rivers. Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council with support from HSBC Global Education Trust and funding from DfES London Challenge, Jack Petchey Foundation and City of London.
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River Thames, London, UK
rtists Shona Watt and Pete A Gomes led art and design workshops with pupils from thirty-two secondary schools in London.
< The Thames looking east, showing Millennium Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge. Photo by Steve Hollingshead.
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1. A rchbishop Tenison’s School, Lambeth Researching ‘Polluted River’ the pupils looked at the role of River Men in the 19th century, whose job it was to fish dead bodies out of the Thames. They photographed each other, printed their portraits out and worked them up into pastel drawings, these images were scanned into the computer and overlaid with line drawings.
2. Capital City Academy, Brent Researching ‘Polluted River’ as their theme, the pupils based their work on the HMS Montgomery, situated in the Thames Estuary, which has 3,000 unexploded bombs still on board from WWII. The pupils made cross-sectional and bird’s-eye view drawings of the ship and of bombs. These were then scanned into the computer, colourized and laid out on their digital board.
3. Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, Kensington & Chelsea
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Investigating ‘River Culture’ the pupils looked at Traitors Gate and the executions that took place at the Tower of London. They researched people that were beheaded at the Tower and whose heads were then displayed on London Bridge, such as monarchs and bishops. The pupils printed out portraits of them and created drawings based on a hybrid of skulls and the portraits. These were then scanned in, colourized and arranged on the computer.
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4. Catford High School, Lewisham
5. Charles Edward Brooke School, Lambeth
Researching ‘River City’, the pupils investigated the history of London Bridge and its move to Arizona after being bought by Americans. The students drew imagery of skulls and deserts looking at the work of Georgia O’Keefe for inspiration. They made photocopies of their drawings onto Fabiano paper and painted them with watercolours. These were then arranged on the computer.
Researching ‘River City’, pupils based their work on the IBM building by the river Thames. They looked at circuit boards and emulated patterns on the boards on dotted isometric paper. These patterns were traced off with coloured pens and then overlaid.
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6. City of London Academy, Southwark Researching ‘River Culture’, pupils studied the Blitz. They looked at images of soldiers and London bombings and drew imagery based loosely around a 1960’s anti-war poster. The drawings were coloured in crudely using felt-tip pens and then scanned into the computer and laid out using Photoshop.
7. Hackney Free and Parochial School, Hackney Studying ‘River of Life’ as their theme, the pupils investigated the plague in London. The students chose a variety of historical illustrations and made comic observational drawings from them. These drawings were then scanned into the computer and laid out.
8. Hatch End High School, Harrow Through the theme ‘River Culture’, the pupils researched Frost Fairs on the Thames. They based their drawings on microscopic photographs of snow flakes. These drawings were then scanned into the computer and laid out on the digital board with Photoshop.
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9. Kingsford Community School, Newham On the theme of ‘Working River’, pupils researched currencies; they then produced a bitmap image from their research material. The students created a stencil from their image, spray-painted their stencils and scanned them into the computer. Finally, they collectively decided the layout and colours of the board.
10. Lilian Baylis Technology School, Lambeth Researching ‘River Culture’ the pupils explored sporting activities, in particular the Tour de France. They made drawings of bicycles and bike components which were then scanned into the computer and arranged.
11. N ower Hill High School, Harrow Researching ‘River Culture’, the students focused on sport. They took photographs of each other jumping; these were put through Photoshop and animated into a sequence of movements. The movements were traced using a light-box and laid over photographs of buildings. All the imagery was then imported into the computer and arranged onto the digital board.
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12. Oaklands School, Tower Hamlets Researching ‘River City’ as their theme, the pupils produced isometric projections of three dimensional building shapes onto graph paper. These were then traced on a lightbox and scanned into the computer. Each pupil had their own laptop on which they colourised their individual drawings; the group then organised the layout collectively.
13. Pimlico School, Westminster Researching ‘River City’, the students looked at the MI6 building as it was the nearest building to them on the riverfront. They found aerial images of the building and their school on Google Earth and drew from them. They started to investigate spy gadgets such as underwater cameras, exploding suitcases and helicopters, and made images of them. These were all scanned into the computer, arranged and colourized.
14. P reston Manor High School, Brent Using the theme ‘Working River’, the pupils researched trade, particularly food and spices from India. They made observational drawings of exotic fruits and spices, scanned them into the computer and reversed them out on Photoshop.
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15. R aines Foundation School, Tower Hamlets
16. R icards Lodge High School, Merton
Researching the theme ‘River of Life’, the pupils made observational drawings of insects. These drawings were photographed with the web-cam, then reversed out and treated with filters using Photoshop.
Researching ‘River of Life’, students collected plants relating to the Thames. A photo booth was constructed around a web cam from black paper, through which flowers and plants were suspended and photographed using a filter on the camera. The photographs were then laid out on the digital board using Photoshop.
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17. Rooks Heath High School, Harrow Researching ‘River of Life’ as their theme, the students made observational drawings of plants and botanical illustrations relating to the Thames. They re-painted their drawings with glitter and these were then scanned and arranged onto the board using Photoshop.
18. Sacred Heart School, Southwark Researching the theme ‘Resourceful River’, the pupils investigated hurricanes and tornados, in particular the hurricane which took place in London in the 17th century and lifted boats from the river and up onto bridges. The students drew imagery which was then scanned into the computer and laid out onto the digital board.
19. Sion Manning RC School, Kensington & Chelsea Researching ‘River Culture’, the pupils studied Frost Fairs. They used flour to represent snow and made footprints and fake animal prints using wire. These were scanned into the computer, colourized and laid out using Photoshop.
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20. Sir John Cass Foundation & Red Coat CE School, Tower Hamlets Researching ‘River of Life’, the pupils made observational drawings of bacteria. These were then scanned into the computer and colour and filters were added on Photoshop.
21. St George’s RC School, Westminster Researching ‘River Culture’ the pupils re-enacted the ‘Great Stink’ of London. They took a series of photographs on the web-cam, imported them into Photoshop and made a cartoon strip.
22. St. Gregory’s RC Science College, Harrow Researching the theme ‘River of Life’, the pupils made observational drawings of stuffed animals. They then traced the outline of their drawings and these were scanned into the computer and colourized using Photoshop. One pupil designed a target and all the animal silhouettes were laid over it.
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23. St Marylebone CE School, Westminster
24. St. Michael’s RC School, Southwark
Through the theme ‘Resourceful River’, the students researched navigation instruments on the Internet and then made a stencil of a compass. The stencils were coloured in with felt tip pens and then confectioners’ hundreds and thousands and sugar balls were glued onto the coloured sections. The students photographed their work and imported it into Photoshop.
Researching ‘River Culture’, the pupils visited the HMS Belfast and took photographs of the cannons so that they could make imagery of explosions. They used a technique whereby they took an electric drill, placed circles of card on top and then dripped paint onto the card once the drill was turned on, thus creating spin paintings. These paintings were then scanned into the computer and colourized using warm colours to suggest exploding guns.
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25. St Paul’s Way Community School and Arts College, Tower Hamlets Researching ‘Working River’, the pupils thought about what happens within the office environment. They made observational drawings of objects that relate to working places, such as pens, CD’s and calculators. Photocopies were made of all the drawings and each pupil came up with their own layout. The best images and layouts were chosen to inform the final composition.
26. St Thomas the Apostle School, Southwark Researching the ‘Resourceful River’, students wrote a storyboard based on Global Warming and the Thames Barrier. They created scenarios and photographed each other through a series of dramatic re-enactments; the work was then imported into Photoshop using cartoon strips and laid out.
27. S tockwell Park High School, Lambeth
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Using ‘River Culture’ as their theme the pupils based their work on an exhibition from the Museum of London in 2005 which displayed soap stone and metal carvings of Hindu gods, which had been excavated from the Thames by an archaeological group. They made detailed drawings from the imagery, traced over their drawings and coloured them with coloured pencils.
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28. S ydenham School, Lewisham Using the theme ‘River City’, a film of Thames bridges was projected into the classroom. The pupils traced over sections of the film on the wall and then recreated the sections with coloured paper. These were then scanned into the computer and laid out on the digital board.
29. The Charter School, Southwark Researching the theme ‘River of Life’ the pupils looked at bird images and began making observational drawings, they then cut out their drawings to create an aperture. They then made a series of mark making and paintings and selected the best parts to be scanned into the computer with their bird apertures. These were arranged onto their digital board.
30. L ondon Nautical School, Lambeth Investigating ‘Resourceful River’, the pupils researched comic books and devised a comic strip based on pollution and flooding. They dramatized their story by taking photographs of props from around the school; these were then scanned into the computer and a comic strip was made using Photoshop.
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32. W estminster City School, Westminster
31. The Skinners’ Company’s School for Girls, Hackney
Researching ‘Working River’ as their theme, pupils made intricate observational drawings. These drawings were scanned into the computer, colourized and arranged onto the digital mock-up of the final artwork.
Researching ‘River of Life’, the pupils made observational drawings of trees. They traced their original drawings and experimented on Fabriano paper and inks, trying to represent the fairy lights in the trees. The line drawings and ink blobs were then scanned into the computer and colourized using Photoshop.
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River Nile, Cairo, Egypt
Artists Irene Humber, Sarah Hassan, Heba Rafea, and Reem Morsi led art and design workshops with pupils from six schools in Cairo.
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1. F utures Experimental School Researching ‘River City’, the pupils made collage work based on the architecture of their city. This work was then arranged to form their final composition.
2. British School in Cairo Investigating ‘Resourceful River’ as their theme, the pupils researched trade and commerce. They made drawings and paintings which were scanned into the computer and arranged onto their board.
3. Salaam Experimental School Researching ‘River of Life’, the pupils looked at wildlife associated with their river and its surroundings. They made drawings and stencils which were then integrated into the final design.
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4. International School of Chouiefat Investigating ‘River Culture’, the students researched calligraphy and symbols. They manipulated and overlaid these to create a patterned effect on their final design.
5. El Malek School Studying ‘River of Life’, the pupils researched plants and animals that live on and around the river. They made drawings and paintings which were collaged together to create their final composition.
6. Learning Resource Centre, Maadi Investigating ‘River of Life’, the pupils made paintings depicting animal life. They then cut out their paintings and arranged them onto their panel.
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River Yangtze, Chongqing, China
Artists Zhou Litong, Ning Jia, Wang Dejie and Chen Gang led art and design workshops with pupils from eight schools in Chongqing.
<< Text Photo by George Nicholson.
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1. B axian Middle School Researching ‘River Culture’, the students made drawings and imagery using paper-cutting techniques, fibreglass, wax and watercolours. The students proved themselves to be careful, innovative and good team-workers.
2. Fengjie Middle School Researching ‘River City’, the pupils created two boards, one was dark and the other was light. The students created lines and blocks of colour using pure pigment on the dark background. They then cut the light board into small pieces and arranged these onto the dark board. The imagery was scanned into the computer and adjusted on the digital board.
3. Fulin No.5 School Studying ‘Polluted River’, the students were encouraged to imagine their waterway in the context of “being harmed”. They each drew pictures and the drawings were then scanned and arranged on the digital board.
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4. No.37 Middle School Studying ‘River of Life’, the students looked at the relationship between the man-made and the natural world. They made imagery using pencils, paper-cuts, photographs and collage.
5. High School Affiliated to South West University Researching ‘Working River’, the students chose paper-cutting as the main medium for creating their artwork. They focused on people’s daily life, for example looking at clothing, food, accommodation and traffic.
6. Wanzhou Language School Researching the theme ‘Resourceful River’, the arts facilitator encouraged the pupils to think creatively and guided them towards producing drawings using watercolours and other painting methods.
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7. Yongchaun Middle School
8. Yunyang Middle School
Researching ‘River Culture’, the students made both observational drawings of views along the river, and drawings based on stories relating to the river, using pencils, paper-cuts, photographs and collage. These were then scanned in to the computer and arranged on the digital board.
Researching ‘River of Life’, the students took lots of photographs by the river. They then cut up the images using scissors or ripping them by hand, and pasted them freely according to their understanding of the ecological system and particular organisms along the river. The drawings were then scanned and adjusted on the computer using Photoshop.
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River Liesbeek, Cape Town, South Africa
Artists Garth Erasmus, Rod Sauls, Sipho Hlati, Ayesha Price, Heath Nash and Fai-qah Abrahams led art and design workshops with pupils from six schools in Cape Town.
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1. Bokmakierie School Researching the theme ‘Working River’, the pupils studied the role of washerwomen by the Liesbeek River. They then made paintings and embroideries of the washerwomen carrying out such tasks as washing clothes, hanging them out, bundling them up and so on. These were incorporated into the final design.
2. Garlandale High School Researching ‘Polluted River’ as their theme, the students were asked to make observational line drawings of plastic bags, rubbish, bottles etc. Colour and tone was added once they had gained confidence. These drawings were then photographed over a river of plastic bottles.
3. Rhodes High School Researching ‘Resourceful River’, the pupils looked at the issues surrounding the Liesbeek as a hidden river and its transformation from a functional asset to an unused and unknown space. The pupils created imagery through an intaglio process, where the original drawings are blacked over and pupils then scratch away to expose forms underneath.
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4. Siyabulela School Researching the theme ‘River City’, pupils were taken on a trip to the Liesbeek River. Once they returned to school they made drawings based on their experiences around a map of the Langa location and the flow of the river.
5. St George’s Grammar School Studying ‘River Culture’, the pupils were asked to explore and imagine cultural games and events that a child would have experienced growing up on the Liesbeek River before the forced evictions, such as ‘ghost frog’ or ‘culture vulture’. The pupils then made a series of mono-prints and linoleum-cut prints based on their findings.
6. Zonnebloem Children’s Art Centre Researching ‘River of Life’, the pupils made initial studies of birds and dragonflies; these were then developed into craftworks using beads, cloth and wire. The background landscape was divided into sections representing the various sites and textures explored on the river walk.
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River Ganges, Kolkata, India
Artists Pulak Ghosh and Tandra Chanda led art and design workshops with pupils from six schools in Kolkata.
< Text Photo by George Nicholson.
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1. Birla High School Researching ‘River Culture’, the pupils looked into myths, beliefs and rituals from India. They based their work on a Bengal embroidery style called Kantha and made very fine brush paintings onto paper. These were then scanned into the computer and arranged on their digital board.
2. Calcutta International School Researching ‘Polluted River’ as their theme, the students made work in the style of Warli paintings. The final work was scanned into the computer and the composition was then collectively decided.
3. DPS Rubypark Investigating the theme ‘Resourceful River’, pupils made work based on the Woodcut technique. Their imagery was then imported into Photoshop and laid out on the digital board.
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4. Future Hope School Researching ‘River City’, the pupils from this orphanage made clay sculptures of famous monuments and buildings in their city. These were then photographed, imported into the computer and laid out on their digital board.
5. La Martiniere for Boys Researching ‘Working River’, the pupils based their composition on the theme of communication. The students collected magazines and newspapers and made a series of collages which were then scanned into the computer and arranged onto their digital board.
6. MSB School Researching ‘River of Life’, the pupils made images inspired by the ‘Madhubani’ style of art, which is based on very vibrant colours. The paintings were then scanned into the computer and arranged through Photoshop.
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Rivers of the World Schools
Thanks to:
River Thames, London, UK
River Ganges, Kolkata, India
Archbishop Tenison’s School Capital City Academy Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School Catford High School Charles Edward Brooke School City of London Academy Hackney Free and Parochial School Hatch End High School Kingsford Community School Lilian Baylis Technology School Nower Hill High School Oaklands School Pimlico School Preston Manor High School Raines Foundation School Ricards Lodge High School Rooks Heath High School Sacred Heart RC School Sion Manning RC School Sir John Cass Foundation & Red Coat CE School St George’s RC School St Gregory’s RC Science College St Marylebone CE School St Michael’s RC School St Paul’s Way Community School and Arts College St Thomas the Apostle College Stockwell Park High School Sydenham School The Charter School The London Nautical School The Skinners’ Company’s School for Girls Westminster City School
Birla High School Calcutta International School DPS Rubypark Future Hope School La Martiniere for Boys MSB School
River Yangtze, Chongqing, China Baxian Middle School Fengjie Middle School Fulin No.5 School No.37 Middle School South West University Affiliated School Wanzhou Language School Yongchaun Middle School Yunyang Middle School
River Liesbeek, Cape Town, South Africa Bokmakierie School Garlandale High School Rhodes High School Siyabulela School St George’s Grammar School Zonnebloem Children’s Art Centre
River Nile, Cairo, Egypt Futures Experimental School British School in Cairo Salaam Experimental School International School of Chouiefat El Malek School Learning Resource Centre, Maadi