The River Boundary: In Conversation with Anita Joice and Pippa Hetherington
Facilitated by Susie Lawson | 9th May – 2pm | £12.00
Join artists Anita Joice and Pippa Hetherington for a facilitated talk exploring The River Boundary, their collaborative exhibition at Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum.
Bringing together two distinct but connected practices, the exhibition considers the river as a site of memory, imagination and shifting interpretation. Through painting, photography and material processes, Joice and Hetherington explore how landscapes hold and shape stories, from the River Thames to South Africa’s Great Fish River. Their work reflects on how histories are carried through place, sometimes visible, sometimes obscured, and continually evolving over time.
In this conversation, the artists will discuss the development of their work, from Joice’s River Project, tracing the Thames through collective, site-based painting with participants from the West Ox Arts community in the Cotswolds, to Hetherington’s exploration of post-colonial identity through photography and the use of natural pigments made from bedrock found near the banks of the Great Fish River. The discussion will also touch on Hetherington’s ongoing collaboration with the Keiskamma Art Project (KAP), a collective of artists and embroiderers in South Africa’s Eastern Cape whose collaborative textile works foreground community memory, storytelling and shared histories.
A key point of connection between the artists is Gravesend, where the Thames meets the sea and from which the 1820 settlers, including Hetherington’s ancestors, departed for South Africa. Both artists have spent time at this site, independently and together, drawing on its layered histories as a place of departure, transition and memory. This shared experience forms an important thread within the exhibition and the dialogue between their work.
Facilitated by Susie Lawson, the discussion will open up wider questions around collaboration, storytelling and the ways in which art can offer new perspectives on history and place. There will be an opportunity for audience questions following the conversation.
About The Speakers
Anita Joice is a multi-disciplinary artist working across painting, drawing, installation and collaborative site-based projects.
Pippa Hetherington is a South African photographic artist whose work explores memory, identity and post-colonial narratives through image and material experimentation.
Susie Lawson is an arts consultant with over 25 years’ experience working with artists, galleries and cultural organisations across the UK and internationally.
