Chalk stream processional

A work arising from a residency undertaken at High House, Norfolk, in May and June, 2024. Taking the Castle Acre Processional, a 15th century manuscript used by the monks in the Priory as a starting point, the work tells the story of the regenerating stretch of the river Nar that runs between Castle Acre and West Acre. In the days of the monasteries, monks preparing lake pigments for their manuscripts sometimes chanted to time the reactions occurring. Colour and song inextricably bound, distilling memory and place, beauty and life. At Castle Acre their voices mingled with the many songs of the Nar sounding through the gardens of the Priory. Ethically collected earth, carbon and lake pigments were made from the many returning species living and dying within the wider environs of the river valley. Just as their voices are becoming louder within the landscape, so they are given primacy here.