The River Is: Ashburton Art Gallery

At Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum, Iain Cheesman’s foyer wall artwork The River Is will be on display until April 2024.

T he River Is is an extension of Iain Cheesman’s recent exhibition, Nurture Nature, which was exhibited at Ashburton Art Gallery and Museum from 19 October to 3 December 2023. Nurture Nature celebrated the act of slowing down and looking. Within the gallery space, painting, sculpture, embroidery, taxidermy, and poetry sat together, creating a landscape for the viewer to navigate. Cheesman introduced birds as the focal point of his landscape, and as a bird watcher himself, hoped that the viewer would take on this role of nature observer within the exhibition.
‘The River Is extends this concept, of observing nature, moving from birds to water. This work is inspired by a childhood memory in which Iain’s grandmother’s friend uses a wooden divining stick to search for water underground. “Where we live in Waiuku, we catch most of the water we use; it runs off the many roof structures we have. There’s nothing divine in this, it is just the act of interception. We catch it and feel like we own it, but then it flows through our fingers and is gone.” – Iain Cheesman

The River Is speaks to the value of water; the value that cannot be commodified, measured, or owned.

The below poem was written for the installation.

Rakahuri
my river is a snake
taking advantage of gravity
and all it wants
is to see the sea
it takes its measure of silt
pebble, stone and the sandy loam
yes it plays its part in the greater entropy
as it widens itself near the sea the sea
it will burst its banks in flood
not ‘Thee Flood’ but smaller ones
after we bulldozed and built
and took away some of the estuary
my river is a snake
just wanting to flow free
for all its length from mountain to sea
one day it will, just you see
and it will feel like an eternity.