RIVER CAM CREATIVE OPPORTUNITY

River Cam Erasure - a call out to visual artists: WATERBODIES

On the 21st of June, citizens will be holding a ceremony to declare the rights of the River Cam. The river and tributaries are polluted and in danger, because we take too much water for our city and fields. I’m a poet and activist Alice Willitts, inviting visual artists and poets to respond to our action to declare the personhood of the River Cam. You and I have human rights. This declaration is the first step in getting the river legal rights of personhood like you and me. Under current UK law, this is the best way to give the river a voice at the negotiating table and stop the abuse of its body and habitat. Imagine how clear and sparkling and full of life our river could be if we treated it well.

WATERBODIES is the theme.

Please respond to the Cam as a person. Making work that shows our love for the Cam is a collective act to reveal the many generations of voices that care about the river.

You might ask yourself things like what if the river was my sister, brother, nan how what kind of portrait would I make? What kind of person would the Cam be if it was living its best life? What’s the Cam trying to tell me? What if the river is me and I am the river?

My intention is to use the images in the campaign for river rights which means they may be featured in local papers and collect them for an online showcase on the Friends of the River Cam website. It may be appropriate to show some of the images at the rights ceremony on the 21st so please indicate in your submission if that’s something you’d like to do i.e. hold up the image yourself or have someone hold it up on your behalf.

In large part, what I can do with the images will depend on what you all send in but I’ll keep you informed as it develops. Please only send work if you are happy for it to appear publicly.

Submissions until noon on 15th June

2021

email: RiverCamErasure@gmail.com All media and formatting accepted. Please send photographs of original artwork as jpegs.

Questions? Contact poet Alice Willitts RiverCamErasure@gmail.com

To find out more about the Universal Declaration of Rights for the River Cam and the ceremony please go to the Friends of the River Cam website https://www.friendsofthecam.org

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