The fifth community day ‘Toes in the Water’ celebrated blue spaces with music, art and participation on Saturday (Feb 28) at St Denys Boat Club.
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There was an eclectic musical line-up from some nine acts, as well as stalls, an art exhibition with work reflecting water, swimming and blue spaces, and an art workshop.
The participatory artwork on a long roll of paper was led by artist Gemma Gore and hosted by Southampton River Rights and Guardians of the River Itchen.
Its focus was to “create a collaborative love letter to the River Itchen”.
“Using geological paint share your love for our local chalk stream, and anger for how it’s mistreated,” visitors were urged.
And they did, contributing statements, messages and original art to the giant mural that will go on to be used to promote future Southampton River Rights (SRR) movement events.
Kirsteen Anderssen, one of the founders of the SRR, said: “We are essentially writing a charter for Southampton City Council around river rights ... as part of the nationwide push to increase the rights of rivers.”
Kirsteen added: “We’re inviting people to write messages, and symbols, and marks around their love for the river, and also for their outrage for the way it’s been treated.”
The group is working on a charter to protect the Itchen and inform the local council, the goal being for rivers to be given legal rights, just as a company has legal rights.
You can hear Kirsteen speaking about the artwork and river rights, and see a video clip and more photos of the artwork and from the event, on our digest+ channel on Substack (free post).
A public meeting on March 9 from 7.15pm at St Denys Church Hall will further explore the proposition: ‘What if Rivers Had Rights?’. Leading campaigners and researchers from the UK’s river rights movement are listed to attend, with the session exploring “how a Rights of the River Charter - built from the ground up by the community - can create real, lasting change for Southampton”.