Waterdrop

Preface

In 2022 the artist performer Clare Whistler and eco poet Kay Syrad came for a weeklong residency exploring in minutia and physically this watery place. The day started with a plunge into the cold waters of the lake and then mapped into a series of tasks – each a recorded exploration. In a world so stressed by the lack of water, its abundance here is at times overwhelming, mapping its past life as a watercress farm. A historically complex series of waterways reflect on sustainable human management, what Robert Macfarlane would call the ‘old ways’. Clare and Kay’s journey through this watery microsite was more slither than ‘on foot’, and their beautiful record of this slithering is celebrated here in words, well-crafted poems and photographs. 

A single waterdrop captivated their presence. So tight in its gravitational skin, fallen from the atmosphere, a conspiracy of life giving between air and water. Slow, fast, fleeting, come and gone. A water clock ‘that tells its own time, if there’s even time’.

I awoke each morning here, watched as Clare and Kay braved their morning immersion, watched as they explored and as we talked gently into the evenings. The intricacy of their findings has only come to light through this glorious book. A small reflection that mirrors the Watershed’s physical boundary and the enormity of its place within our precious ecology. I thank them both for creating a world so beautiful and interdependent – a waterdrop full of tastes and complexity. 

David Buckland

Founder & International Director, Cape Farewell 

June 2024