Walker & Bromwich and the Rakarsa Foundation initiated a cross-residency programme that raised issues of soil and water pollution and environmental justice.
Enounters between artists and communities often give rise to important initiatives in addressing local environmental issues. This can be seen in the community-based project, Under the Bridge Water and Air, a collaboration between Glasgow-based artist duo Walker & Bromwich and Bandung-based collective Rakarsa Foundation.
Under the Bridge Water and Air addresses issues of soil and water pollution as well as environmental justice. The project includes workshops, film screenings, litter picking , and collaborative art-making with the community.
Encounters that Give Birth to New Ideas
Walker & Bromwich and Rakarsa Foundation share similar community-based practices. Zoe Walker and Neil Bromwich are known for their large-scale sculptures and participatory works that explore the role of art as an active agent in society, as well as practices that develop environments where people reinterpret the world around them through protest, celebration, and contemplation.
Whereas Rakarsa Foundation (Rakarsa, Bandung, 2018) is an art and culture collective that seeks to expand the role of art as a common ground for individuals of diverse backgrounds and skills to meet and collaborate through exhibitions, cultural exchanges, and educational activities.
Walker & Bromwich and Rakarsa first met under a highway overpass in the Pulosari area of Bandung, where Rakarsa often works closely with the local community.
Based on that meeting, they realised that, independently of each other, they had been working for the past three years on projects connected to the highway system and rivers, researching pollution and environmental justice. While Rakarsa campaigns for Cleaning the River and works extensively with the Pulosari community, Walker & Bromwich works with communities in the Greater Easterhouse area of northeast Glasgow through the Clean Air Campaign, in collaboration with Sunnyside School of Conservation & On Bikes.
Both initiatives speak to the struggles faced by local communities, as well as their differences and approaches. Based on the conversation, they saw the potential to collaborate in combating the climate crisis by fostering solidarity between two communities from two different countries through artistic activities.
After receiving the grant from the British Council through the Connections Through Culture programme, Rakarsa and Walker & Bromwich initiated a three-week cross-residency where both acted as facilitators in each region.
Rakarsa Residency in Glasgow
Vincent Samoel from Rakarsa undertook a residency in March 2024. Samoel screened a film made in collaboration with Mathla’ul Khoeriyah Primary School, Bandung, which mapped pollution in their local area, while students from Sunnyside School talked about the air and water pollution campaign strategies they were promoting.
There was also a postcard exchange session where students from both schools mapped river locations and plastic pollution in their respective areas to foster empathy and environmental awareness.
Additionally, Samoel participated in a litter collection activity with Sunnyside School students in Arrochar, Loch Long, one of Scotland's worst marine litter hotspots; and with the Molendinar Community Centre, a multi-generational community, along the Molendinar River in northeast Glasgow.
The culmination of this residency was creating artefacts and collaborative activities. The first activity was Art/Cycle Ride, a guided bike tour following the hidden Molendinar river route to observe air and water pollution through a creative process of mapping the route. This activity is led by Bromwich, alongside sixth-grade students from Sunnyside School and On Bikes. In addition to Samoel, participants include parents of Sunnyside School students, local politicians, activists, artists, the Molendinar Community Centre group, and the general public.
Some of the creative outputs from this activity include clean air campaign vests and collectively made bicycles shaped like a salmon.
There was also a presentation by Parents for the Future, where Walker & Bromwich, Vincent Samoel, and sixth-grade students from Sunnyside School presented the cycling and mapping project for the Clean Air Campaign at Glasgow City Hall. The event was attended by 120 children from schools across Glasgow, 120 members of the public, 20 members of the Glasgow City Council, and 15 environmental campaign groups.
Walker & Bromwich Residency in Bandung
Similar to Vincent Samoel’s residency in Glasgow, Walker & Bromwich undertook a residency in Bandung in September 2024 and organised film screenings and postcard exchanges in collaboration with Mathla’ul Khoeriyah Elementary School.
They also initiated a litter picking activity at pollution sites along the Citarum Harum project, alongside a group of children from Mathla’ul Khoeriyah School, as well as in the Pulosari area, accompanied by a live demonstration and a gathering with the women of Cibogo and Pulosari to share strategies for cleaning up plastic waste.
The joint activities included the creation of three large turtle puppets made from plastic waste with the Pulosari community, children, and a group recovering addicts, at the central square of Pulosari and an outdoor stage.
Facing Climate Crisis with Collective Practice
Both Rakarsa and Walker & Bromwich have initiated social-collective practice-based activities that build knowledge exchange between artists, communities and participating community members.
This collective project has created long-term insights and impacts for both groups of artists and related communities as a sustainable legacy. They opined that “it is so easy to collaborate internationally when there is genuine engagement with projects and communities on the ground, through artists and organisations based in their respective countries.”
Art as Future Resilience
Rakarsa and Walker & Bromwich’s future plans include producing a feature-length documentary exploring the projects and community responses in both cities to the environmental crisis.
This project also positively contributes to both schools, Sunnyside School and Mathla’ul Khoeriyah. Students from both schools involved in the project can build empathy and learn about issues more deeply in a creative and communal way.
There are efforts to advance and maintain collaboration and shared learning to create international solidarity focused on the climate crisis through collective artistic practices.
All those involved feel a sense of connection and hope that the intergenerational collaboration among the groups involved in Under The Bridge Water and Air can continue to energise activities around ecology and the issues faced.
