Path of Least Resistance (2020-ongoing)
Since 2020 I have been been traveling down different European rivers by bicycle. The Rhine, Danube, Elbe, Spree and Oder. Rivers find the easiest path for water from higher ground to the sea. People have lived, traveled, fought and made their livelihood on them for a very long time. Often these rivers form borders between countries and become an overlapping venn-diagram of national or regional culture, or a place to sell cheap goods or services to your neighbour. Often they are flanked by rich agricultural land. People sit and stare at the river all day, happy if they come home with a fish. For millennia, humans have manipulated, built on and shaped the landscape and environment in Europe, but rivers remain stubbornly steadfast. The most we can do is partially re-direct them; they will always be there. Growing up beside the Shannon in Ireland I have always had a strong connection to rivers. There is something calming and also strange about these ancient arterial waters that meander slowly through our continent, silently connecting people and places.
