'Unpublished' presents a multimedia programme of artworks with this unique place as its focal point, seen through the art of Irene Rogan - in the various performance, material, and activist aspects of her work - but also in the contributions of other artists and participants that she commissioned to take part in a programme of art works. Of crucial importance in all this were the Duddon Inshore Rescue service, who provided intrepid assistance and carried the various artists over the surface of the Duddon's fast-moving waters and around its edges so that they could experience at first-hand something of the life and ecology of the estuary.
Confronted with a landscape that had been celebrated in Wordsworth's writings on the Duddon Estuary nearly two hundred years ago, the artists taking part in 'Unpublished' were able to see it not only as that celebrated cultural landscape, but also by taking up new perspectives - touching on geological, biological, and archaeological elements - as they worked on their own contributions between August and October 2021. Their work was first presented as 'Unpublished Tour', with an exhibition, presentations and performances at Millom Palladium, Cumbria in November 2021. Now, almost a year later and under a slightly shortened title, 'Unpublished' is delighted to bring this unknown Cumbria to the Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool. 1-16 0CTOBER 2022
About Unpublished Tour
Unpublished Tour builds on Irene Rogan’s earlier projects, The Making of a Cultural Landscape (GFTA 2018) and Between Silence and Light (GFTA 2019) as well as the strong community links she has developed in south Copeland, and in particular in the town of Millom and its surroundings, where the former industrial landscape that was centred around the ironworks that closed decades ago is undergoing a restorative process as it is reclaimed by the natural environment.
This ‘new’ landscape is brought into view through a focus on the hidden and inaccessible edges along the Duddon Estuary and an engagement with the restoration of Haverigg Dunes, which for Unpublished Tour are sites for a shared creative journey, explored variously from the land and the water, and the library and via online media.
Unpublished Tour therefore represents a process that will embrace environmental art and sciences including microbiology, geomorphology and archaeology in the surrounding landscape. Participatory events combine new artworks and workshops, walks, poetry, visual art, literature and performance - accessible across all age groups and backgrounds.
The underpinning purpose of Unpublished Tour is to draw local communities into a deeper engagement with the natural environment, by revealing the characteristics, features and qualities that identify the Duddon and Haverigg Dunes areas as places that are in need of special protection. A primary aim of this work will be to foster a desire for a living legacy, locally and nationally, that helps to preserve the Duddon Estuary’s unique qualities for future generations. The work, in part, is inspired by William Wordsworth's 'The River Duddon, A series of Sonnets' from which the project title 'Unpublished Tour' was later derived.
Unpublished Tour has been supported by an Arts Council National Lottery Grant in partnership with Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Dynamic Dunescapes. Further support has been provided by Haverigg Inshore Rescue, Duddon Inshore Rescue and In Certain Places at the University of Central Lancashire.
Dynamic Dunescapes is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the EU LIFE Programme. The project is a partnership between Natural England, Plantlife, National Trust, Natural Resources Wales and the Wildlife Trusts.
Artists and other contributors to Unpublished Tour
David Baker, acoustic drummer
Laurence Campbell, filmmaker
Dr. David Cooper, writer and academic
Mel Galley, artist
Dr. Wallace Heim, writer and sound performance artist
Hannah Rose Kessler, singer and songwriter
Stephen Leece, photographer
Di McGhee, environmental artist
Tim Pugh, environmental artist
Irene Rogan, artist
Dr. John Scanlan, writer and academic
Richard Scott, saltmarsh ecologist
Jo Wade, musician
Neil Wade, musician
Email: unpublishedtour@gmail.com