Ways of Water

An aerial photograph of a circular concrete platform in a body of water. Extending from the platform in the top left of the image is a bridge or jetty. On the opposite side of platform to the bridge is a solar panel and in the centre is some venting and a metal panel. Around the edge of the platform is a metal railing.

Matterlurgy, Ways of Water, 2023 © the artists

An exhibition by Matterlurgy
(Helena Hunter & Mark Peter Wright)

Ways of Water explored local water infrastructures, from historic wells to expansive reservoirs across sites in Yorkshire and Derbyshire. The exhibition followed the historic and contemporary implications of the Sheffield cholera epidemic of 1832, which emerged because of unsanitary water conditions.

Visitors could discover film, photography, sculpture and archives exploring the different scales and effects of wells and reservoirs, juxtaposing sites of community action with larger water infrastructures. Within these sites and structures is a focus on memory and monument. How do we remember past events, culturally? What objects, rituals and beliefs maintain personal and collective memories? How can the past inform future action?

Water is central to human and planetary survival. As a crucial life-sustaining element for every living organism, it needs maintenance and care, as does remembrance. This exhibition highlighted these themes and invited visitors to consider their relationship to water, health, memory and loss on both a local and global scale.

Find out more about Matterlurgy and their work here

Part of The Mouth in collaboration with Arts Catalyst, two exhibitions that unearth cavities, portals and openings in the landscape through images and sound. The Mouth continued at Soft Ground with Skylarking by Ashley Holmes.