Sarah Tulloch

She is beneath your feet, she has always been there, she is the source of life, a well, a spring, worshipped and then covered over by jealous gods, men who were envious of her power but she flows on. Every Spring and Summer she blooms a Queens Mantel of red and gold monkey flowers also known as snap dragons, they bedeck her course, moisture loving plants they hug her flanks creating a golden sinuous and unmistakable band across the landscape. ‘Water’ they announce, little wonder she was worshipped, you can still see the pure spring as you cross the flag stone bridge behind the Carrawburgh fort and the temple to the God Mithras. Nothing marks her now except herself and perhaps one upright standing stone I could see behind a stone wall. I worked on site gathering common flowers and taking photographs.

I combined the plant material and photo cut outs on solar etching plates which I exposed outdoors, using the power of the sun to work with the water goddess. Without fresh water there would be no wall and I am guessing no fort would have been sited at Carrawburgh without a source of water so close at hand. The story of human settlement can be traced along the lines of water courses, plants, animals, all life depends on her. Coventina reminds us of a time when people understood this to their core and were intimately aware of their inter-dependence on earths systems.

We cover over our rivers and water courses now; they are invisible in much of our cityscapes as are the processes of water delivery to and water waste extraction from our homes/workplaces/leisure buildings. Although attempts were made to choke her by Christian zealots around 350AD she still flows and that is encouraging. At this moment in time, we may face the choices between walls, fortresses and soldiers and finding another narrative that includes herstories of water goddesses, respect for nature, others humanity and finding ways to harness natural power, avoid polluting water courses and solve so many other problems we need these stories the herstories that have literally and metaphorically been buried. We need to uncover, unearth and retell our children and their children and their children and on and on, what was always there.

Why do we need these alternative narratives? We need them to help build a way of thinking of a different world, a world that respects nature, an adaptable world and one that will be habitable and she is there, she has always been there, natures miracle is right there beneath your feet. Chesters Museum houses a collection of Roman finds discovered by antiquarian John Clayton (1792-1890) including over 13,000 coins and other items of value left as gifts to the water goddess Coventina.