Dark waters: Nadav Kander’s aquatic rumniations

The photographers ongoing response to the river Thames is on display at Estuary 2021

Now in its second edition, the multi-disciplinary arts festival Estuary does not take place in a singular location, or even in a single city. Instead, its exhibitions follow the meandering River Thames, spread 83 miles along the South Essex and North Kent coastlines. Inspired by Tom King’s 2001 book Thames Estuary Trail: A Walk around the end of the World, the festival reflects on the lives, histories, landscapes and beauty found across this culturally rich length of water.

British-Isreali Photographer Nadav Kander will be exhibiting works from his series Dark Line- The Thames Estuary. The site-specific landscape images will be presented on an abandoned jetty in the very location the images depict.

“Of the elemental forces upon earth, slow-moving expanses of dark water have the strongest effect on me. I’m drawn to the grace, the power, and its ability to conceal what is unknown,” Kander explains.  “This work implies a passage of time, in contrast to our own. The life of the River Thames; flowing before, then into my frame and forever beyond.  I’m drawn to making work that bears witness to the river and to time. The photograph is static, while referring to the world and nature beyond its edges. It conjures images of destiny; it invokes the past and points to the future.”

In The End Is The Beginning. Towards The Thames Estuary by Nadav Kander will be on show at Estuary 2021 from 22 may  to 13 June.