Marwan Kaabour
The River In Verse
Greenwich Peninsula has commissioned a new artwork by Lebanese artist Marwan Kaabour. This new public realm artwork celebrates the rich global identity of the Peninsula’s communities. The River in Verse is a lyrical and poetic mirror of the river Thames transforming The Tide’s glass facades into a fluid space of endless iterations.
In partnership with Queercircle & inspired by the Peninsula’s proximity to the river, Kaabour presents a series of multilingual text extracts that contemplate water, fluidity and expressiveness of its ebb and flow. Kaabour’s practice uses language and text as a vehicle to create visuals. His starting point is research-based, interrogating the subject’s historical context. The artwork incorporates English, Greek, Polish, French, Farsi, Arabic, Yoruba, Mandarin and Turkish languages, which resonate with communities in Greenwich and on the Peninsula. The texts are juxtaposed with graphic fragments from nautical charts.
Greenwich Peninsula's identity and history has been shaped by its proximity to the river Thames. Kaabour is interested in water as a space of promise, inspiration, and possibility. He also explores more difficult conversations in our global context. Water is central to today’s world: whether in relation to migrants risking their life to cross seas in search for a better life, or the rising levels of water due to the climate crisis.
Inspired by the Peninsula’s proximity to the river, Kaabour presents a series of multilingual text extracts that contemplate water, fluidity and expressiveness of its ebb and flow. Kaabour’s practice uses language and text as a vehicle to create visuals. His starting point is research-based, interrogating the subject’s historical context. The artwork incorporates English, Greek, Polish, French, Farsi, Arabic, Yoruba, Mandarin and Turkish languages, which resonate with communities in Greenwich and on the Peninsula. The texts are juxtaposed with graphic fragments from nautical charts.
Greenwich Peninsula's identity and history has been shaped by its proximity to the river Thames. Kaabour is interested in water as a space of promise, inspiration, and possibility. He also explores more difficult conversations in our global context. Water is central to today’s world: whether in relation to migrants risking their life to cross seas in search for a better life, or the rising levels of water due to the climate crisis.
TRANSLATIONS
FRENCH
Arthur Rimbaud (France)
La Rivière de Cassis
La Rivière de Cassis roule ignorée
En des vaux étranges
Translation:
The Cassis River rolls ignored
In strange vales
Paul Eluard (France)
La Rivière
La rivière que j’ai sous la langue,
L’eau qu’on imagine pas, mon petit bateau,
Et, les rideaux baissés, parlons.
Translation:
The river that I have under my tongue,
The water you can't imagine, my little boat,
And, the curtains drawn, let's talk.
ENGLISH
Etel Adnan (Lebanese-American)
Memory and time, both immaterial, are rivers with no banks and constantly merging.
“Not seeing rivers is also another way of dying.”
Gibran Khalil Gibran (Lebanese-American)
The river needs to take the risk
of entering the ocean
ARABIC
Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine)
كان نهرٌ هنا , وله ضفّتان
وأُمٌّ سماويَّةٌ أرضَعَتْهُ السحابَ المُقَطَّرَ ,
Translation:
There was a river here,
And it had two banks
And a heavenly mother nursed him from dripping clouds
Elias Lahoud (Lebanon)
ما همّ لو دفعني النهر إلى حبيبي
Translation:
What would it matter if the river pushed towards my beloved?
Polish
Krzysztof Rutkowski
"chodzę spać do rzeki"
Translation:
i go to sleep in the river”
MANDARIN
Folk proverb
摸着石头过河
To cross a river by feeling the stones
Translation:
I.e. to beat a new path, to tread lightly because people have not gone there before
Du Fu
尔曹身与名俱灭, 不废江河万古流。(杜甫《戏为六绝句》)
ěrcáo shēn yǔ míng jù miè, bù fèi jiānghé wàngǔ liú
Translation:
Your bodies and names will perish, | but the river will flow on for ever.
FARSI
Saadi
تو نيكى مى كن و در دجله انداز
كه ايزد در بيابانت دهد باز
Translation:
do good and cast it in the tigris
and you shall be returned in the desert
TURKISH
Proverb
Akarsu çukurunu kendi kazar.
Translation:
River digs the riverbed itself. If you want to do something, you would find the tools.
Akarsu pislik tutmaz.
Translation:
River doesn’t hold dirt. Refers to the values of working hard, being active.
GREEK
Proverb
Ας το πάρει το ποτάμι
Translation:
Just let the river take it; i.e you give up and reveal a secret
Marwan Kaabour is a London-based, Beirut-born multidisciplinary artist and designer. He works with institutions, brands and individuals in the art and cultural sector. Marwan moved from his hometown Beirut to London in 2011 to pursue a master’s degree, before joining Barnbrook – one of the UK’s most formidable and celebrated design agencies. In 2020, he set up his own design practice in London. Marwan is the founder of Takweer, a platform that explores and archives queer narratives in Arab history and popular culture. Marwan has worked with some of the world’s most exciting cultural institutions including the V&A, Art Basel, Phaidon, The National Gallery, Serpentine Galleries, and Hayward Gallery amongst others. He designed the much-celebrated Rihanna book.
You can visit Marwan's inspiring exhibition on The Tide daily from 8am - 11pm.
