Plough Bridge Pocket Park, SE13 5AF

Responding to the memories of local people who experienced Lewisham’s Great Flood of 1968, artist Anna Reading’s (5-08) sculpture, Street Waders, acts as a weathervane, responding to changes in the weather and environment surrounding Lewisham’s River Quaggy.

Incorporated into the design are silhouettes of a kingfisher and reed-like plant forms. Central to its imagery is a risen water line evoked by a zigzag, above which is a hollow vessel, perforated with holes allowing rainwater to drip through. Hanging beneath the water line are dangling, wading feet and cast impressions of smooth black rocks, representing Blackheath Pebbles, the 55-million-year-old rocks found on the bed of the Quaggy. Merging site-specificity with community narratives, the work comes at a time when fostering a local ecological consciousness is paramount to our survival. Incorporating elements of the past, present and future of the river, the work intends to act as a wayfinder for our ongoing relationships to the urban environment within a changing climate and increasingly volatile meteorological events. Street Waders was fabricated with support from Jamps Studio.

About the artist
Born in Newcastle Upon Tyne (1987), Anna Reading is a Lewisham resident and artist. She has a BA in Fine Art from Central St Martins (2010), an MfA in Sculpture from Slade School of Fine Art (2017), and is the winner of the 2018-19 Mark Tanner Sculpture Award.
Reading’s work deals with issues around anthropocentric perspectives and the subsequent impacts upon environments, bodies, and human psyches. Her sculptural works attempt to engage and collaborate with the environment around us, looking for lessons in survival within hostile settings. Reading creates hybrids of imagery, materials and forms to highlight the unruly spaces at the edges of the built environment.

Lewisham Underwater: Remembering the Great Flood of 1968
On 15-16 September 1968, following days of torrential rain, much of Lewisham found itself under water. What became known as the ‘Great Flood’ had a profound effect on Lewisham’s people and their relationship with its rivers. A collaboration between the Quaggy Waterways Action Group (QWAG) and Lewisham Council’s Climate Resilience Team, Lewisham Underwater gathered memories of the Lewisham residents who were affected, connecting an event over 50 years ago with our relationship to local rivers today. Through public art, fun-filled river activities and even a new flood beer, Lewisham Underwater made rivers everybody’s business.

In Living Memory Led by Goldsmiths, University of London, In Living Memory celebrated Lewisham’s diversity and heritage for London Borough of Culture 2022. It empowered Lewisham’s communities to tell their own stories, presenting them through traditional means as well as artistic and cultural activities and events. Explore images and memories of the ‘Great Flood’ of 1968 in the In Living Memory digital archive: sites.gold.ac.uk/inlivingmemory