For this exhibition we have used bio-regenerative materials as part of an ongoing commitment to low carbon construction. Bio-regenerative materials are natural products, minimally processed that will never become waste. This has been carefully developed by design studios Material Cultures and Wolfe Hall with our Conservation team to ensure a safe environment for the items on display.
The entrance wall is made from UK-sourced reeds, rushes and grasses created by a master thatcher Mark Harrington and expert weaver Mollie McMillen. The temporary walls inside the gallery are made from wetland fibres, hemp, wheat and straw. Artist Charlotte Moore created the ceramic letterings to respond to each water condition in the exhibition.
Please touch the samples.
Thatch wall
• Reed: Reed is one of the world’s most widely grown wetland plants. Low moisture reed harvested in winter can be used as a raw material for craft and construction. A reed straw roof can last for 50–100 years. It is also used as water treatment system.
• Willow: Willow relies heavily on a continuously moist environment and supports the survival of many woodland insects and invertebrates. It can be used for shelter construction, basket production and stabilising riverbanks. Salicylic acid, a key ingredient in aspirin, is extracted from willow bark.
• Sedge: Sedge thrives in moist habitats such as bogs, brackish water marshes, and mountain meadows. It is an important food source within the wetland ecosystem. It was also used as a valuable crop and roof ridge material in Middle Ages Britain, as well as for weaving and in medicinal ingredients by indigenous communities in North America.
• Wheat straw: Cereals like wheat have been grown in the UK for at least 7,000 years. Cereal farming occupies 71% of local agriculture, producing 7 million tonnes of straw annually. Straw absorbs and stores carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Building with straw offers a cost-effective and functional solution for carbon storage.
Exhibition Boards
• Strawboard: This biobased strawboard from German manufacturer Strohplattenwerk Mürit uses mineral binders instead of conventional toxic adhesives. This enables plant fibres to be employed in insulation and furnishing.
• Wheat board: Industrial hemp matures in 100 days, requires minimal water and needs no pesticides. Its high cellulose content also makes it an excellent wood alternative. UK-based Loam Project crafts hemp boards with sugar resin from agricultural waste, which lighten in colour over time like timber.
• Wetland and wheat fibreboard: Brandenburg-based Zelfo uses innovative technology to break down plant fibres at a microscopic level, enabling tight binding. These boards, composed of wetland plants and wheat straw, are bound together by physical compression without chemicals, resulting in a healthy, biodegradable and strong material.
Title Ceramics
• In Search of Freshwater: Glazed stoneware with porcelain slip (a liquid clay made of clay and water). Tension and cracking were created during the shrinkage of wet slip over fired ceramic, like a drying riverbed.
• Aridity: Glazed stoneware with plant matter slip; plants are mixed native wildflowers found growing in London riverbeds.
• Rain: Stoneware with stoneware slip. Wet slip was left in the rain to create a pattern of water droplets.
• Glaciers: Stoneware with crystalline glaze. Metallic compounds suspended in water during the application of glaze bloom upon firing, like ice crystals.
• Surface Water: Stoneware with carvings alluding to texture created by rivulets of water running through sediment.
• Groundwater: Stoneware with London clay collected form Brixton near the lost River Effra. Water was reduced in the clay before pressing.