Body of Water traces a 90 km journey along the River Lee, from its source in the Shehy Mountains, Co. Cork, to its mouth at Cork Harbour on the Celtic Sea. Over nearly two weeks of walking, the project explores an embodied, situated relationship with the river, attending to its form, flow, and the landscapes it traverses. The body is no longer an object in space, but a body in relation, to land, duration, weather, rhythm, and shared presence.

Walking together toward the sea, the project centred on listening, responding, and staying close to the rhythms of the land. Through movement, observation, journaling, mapping, and recording, walking becomes a mode of dialogue with the terrain, attuned to ground, breath, effort, fatigue, orientation, and disorientation. Activities such as recording, journaling, camping, and gathering materials were not supplementary, but embedded within the journey itself. The resulting images, sounds, and objects are less about documentation than about relationship, maintaining a conversation with the river’s flows, cycles, and transformations.

The river bears the marks of human intervention across its course: a hydro-electric scheme in the upper reaches, industrial development in the lower harbour, and ongoing agricultural, leisure, and recreational activities along its banks. These overlapping forces have continuously shaped the land and waterways, leaving layered traces of use, care, and modification that reveal the complex interplay between natural processes and  human activity on the river’s landscape.

The presentation of the work culminated in a series of photographs, video work, and gathered artefacts, each tracing these relational encounters.

This collaborative project with movement artist Colleen Bartley was funded by the Cork 2005 Residencies Programme.

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