RISING (The Grogans) 2022                                                      photograph William Bock

RISING (Trudi) 2022                                                      photograph William Bock

RISING (Trudi) 2022                                                     framed example

RISING

River Residency

2022

RISING is a body of lens based work which includes a series of photographs which features a community cast of individual and families from William’s film, shot along the shores of the Shannon estuary.  The project emerged from William’s year long River Residency in Co. Clare commissioned by Ormston House. 

RISING depicts individuals and family groups as they emerge from the silt, covered in the river mud, returning back to their everyday lives. Part documentary, part visual poem, RISING responds to local people’s changing relationship with the river over time, and the environmental changes that will challenge life along its shores.

Prior to making the film, William Bock spent a year visiting families and individuals in Kildysart and Labasheeda Co.Clare, to learn about their connections to the river, their history and their thoughts about the future. During his visits, William became interested in the body of silt that coats the estuary. For the artist, the silt represents the accumulated heritage of the communities reliant on the River Shannon. Through the film, local community members worked together with William to offer a new vision of the landscape and their place within it.