The Ark. Art, infrastructure and landscape.

British visual artist, Beth Derbyshire explores how nature can be used to represent social, cultural and political values. With “The Ark” she proposes a floating house that studies the relationship between man and nature.



A small wooden house with a green roof on an old boat. This is “The Ark”, the most recent project by British visual artist, Beth Derbyshire. This mobile home recently travelled ten miles along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Lancashire.
This canal is 127 miles long in all, and was first opened in 1816 as an industrial pathway. After it was abandoned in the 1970s, its potential for recreational use was rediscovered.





During The Ark’s journey, it moored at a number of communities where it engaged with the people through a programme of collateral activities, because the project embraces the wide variety of features that abound in this part of the United Kingdom.



The base of the artist’s installation – the boat – alludes to the region's industrial past, and the living green roof to the lush grasslands of the Lancashire countryside.



A “paisley” motif has been engraved in the timber walls, not only creating a great play of light and shade in the construction but also referencing traditional Islamic patterns, combining these decorations with the local aesthetic to celebrate the mix of cultures.



With “The Ark”, Beth Derbyshire offers onlookers a new way to rediscover their origins, their landscape, drawing them close to the canal that symbolises the connection between places as well as between cultures and thoughts.

The Ark is a project by Beth Derbyshire, commissioned by Creativity works and funded by Arts Council England
Beth Derbyshire www.bethderbyshire.com
Photos: Courtesy of Beth Derbyshire
Year: 2013
Location: Lancashire UK
Link: http://www.thearklancashire.co.uk