Mud aggregates. It binds matter, mixing times and textures into shifting flows. On the Colne Estuary, geological past and industrial present are a jumbled archive of mud.
This exhibition showcases new work by Peruvian artist Alejandro Jaime that examines the landscapes and extractive industries around the River Colne, which runs alongside the University of Essex’s Colchester campus. The river is a longstanding recipient and instigator of dramatic landscape changes, from the glacial drift deposited half a million years ago, to the sand and gravel extracted for construction since the early twentieth century. Physical traces of these interconnected processes remain in the landscape and through this exhibition Jaime explores natural and human impacts on the environment, working across an expansive time frame to track geological strata, industrialisation and ecological decline.
Developed as a practice research collaboration with Dr Lisa Blackmore from the School of Philosophy and Art History, this exhibition is the outcome of Alejandro Jaime’s residency at the University of Essex. It is presented in collaboration with the University of Essex Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) and would not have been possible without the support and enthusiasm of the Elephant Trust and JJ Prior, Fingringhoe.
