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 have found the path of least resistance for water from higher ground to the sea. For millennia, we humans have manipulated, built on and re-shaped our natural landscape in Europe, but these rivers remain stubbornly steadfast. The most we can do is partially re-direct them; as long as there is rain they will always be there.
People have lived, traveled, fought and made their livelihood on these rivers for a very long time. Often they 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. These can be strange and unusual places. 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. This project is an attempt to explore these slow, meandering arteries of our continent, and to see how people live with the river. Growing up beside the river Shannon in Ireland, I have always had a strong connection to these waterways.
