Tidal Rooms

Tidal Rooms is an exploration of the monumental, utilitarian structures and spaces of the Thames foreshore as revealed at low tide. In early 2019 I began exploring the vast spaces underneath structures such as wharves and piers, revealed twice every day as the tide drops. I captured these ‘tidal rooms’ from foreshore level, revealing their accidental yet powerful beauty. While the structures were designed solely to support activities above – such as loading and unloading ships – the spaces enclosed underneath are unwittingly majestic, often on a spectacular scale.

Descending the weathered steps to the Thames foreshore, a curious inversion takes place. Foundation piles become monumental columns, coffered concrete soffits an articulated ceiling, and the rigidly programmed and increasingly sterile contemporary city gives way to the messy, ever-shifting terrain of the foreshore. It is a landscape that feels contradictory; a periphery within the city centre.

This feeling of distance and disorientation is further enhanced by the reframing of the city through the foreign, subterranean foreground of the weathered structures with their rich patina of organic growth and decay. The theatrical monumentality of these utilitarian structures provides a rich backdrop for public life. There’s the sense of an empty stage full of civic potential, with clues as to what truly public space can aspire to achieve.

Careful planning was vital to capture the banal magnificence of these enigmatic spaces. The specific height of the tide is used compositionally, along with the ethereal rendering of water produced by a long exposure. Photographs were usually made during falling tide in the early morning light, where the soft light reached deep into the ‘rooms’.

While much of London has become increasingly sterile, the foreshore remains messy and an ever-shifting terrain. It is a largely forgotten landscape that feels peripheral despite being within the city centre. Retief hopes that these photographs will stimulate debate about the meaning of public space in a city that is increasingly defined by private developments and surveillance culture. 

“These structures were quite simply the buttresses to London’s former mercantile status, as we gaze on the precariousness of civic life and question our right to the city, Tidal Rooms evoke a rethinking of how these monuments, which exist in unique spatial frameworks, are exposed and reclaimed.” - Dr Corinna Dean

2019 - Ongoing