Wassail is a series of text works and small-scale sculptural markers that link back to this area’s heritage and local landmarks. The placement of each work marks route-ways and emphasises pedestrian areas such as meeting points, public space and play areas as well as encouraging visitors and residents to explore and navigate the space, creating a journey through a series of encounters of individual artworks that make a coherent whole.
Singing the Blues
“Picture a rain-lashed night on the banks of the Thames. Jutting out from Battersea Park some hundred feet in to the river is a pier where the Queen alights should there be some function in the park. At the end of this jetty the Clash have set their stage gear up – three mikes, three monitors, three amps and a drum kit.” - Joe Strummer describing the filming of their ‘London Calling’ video in December 1979, in the foreword to ‘A Riot of Our Own’ by Johnny Green. At the end of live performances of the song, Strummer was often known to say the words, “I never felt so much a-like singing the blues…”.
Wassail
In 1857 Henry J Briggs discovered the Seax of Beagnoth in the River Thames at Battersea. It contains the only known complete inscription of a twenty-eight-character Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet. Sited at nine locations around the development are translations of the Anglo-Saxon greeting ‘Wassail’, literally meaning ‘be though hale/healthy’. These greetings function as ever-present well wishes to residents and visitors alike.
Weight of the Stone
Loved and loathed in equal measure, Battersea Power Station is well known for its appearance on the front of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album, ‘Animals’. Sited in the granite, in view of the power station, are the first half of the lyrics from the final track on the album, ‘Pigs on the Wing (Part Two)’. Reading as something of a love-song to the power station, they become a short poem of reflection and affection to be read whilst contemplating the history and view of the power station. Their use in this work has been granted by kind permission of Roger Waters.
Pleasure Gardens
In 1951, the section of Battersea Park closest to here was transformed into the Festival of Britain’s ‘Pleasure Gardens’. Now scattered through this site are twenty-one lines of text taken from a series of interviews conducted with Battersea residents about their memories of visiting the gardens. They capture the essence of the experiences of being in the gardens and now appear as a monument to an exciting time in the park and borough’s history.
A Dog Needs a Home
One of the most famous long-term Battersea residents has to be Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Known the world over for helping to rehome and reunite stray and abandoned animals, this piece is in tribute to that tireless work. The second half of the lyrics to Pink Floyd’s ‘Pigs on the Wing (Part Two)’ are set in to the granite next to the paw prints of a dog, which resided at the Home during the making of this artwork. This work was made possible through the generous involvement of the wonderful Battersea Dogs & Cats Home as well as the kind permission of Roger Waters.
2s 6d
On the 16th May, 1903, at 52 Winsham Grove, Battersea, Frances Mansbridge paid her husband 2 shillings and 6 pence from her house-keeping money to become the first member of 'An Association to Promote the Higher Education of Working Men'. This, equally practical and symbolic action enabled the official birth of the organisation that would go on to become the Workers Educational Association. This has since grown into an international organisation, helping millions of working people the world over to continue their education. In memory of that action, set in to the paving here is 2s 6d worth of original 1903 minted coins.
Balloons for Sale
The Short brothers, Horace, Eustace and Oswald, were the first company in the world to make production aircraft. Conveniently located in the arches next to Battersea gasworks, their business started out producing coal-gas filled air balloons for the likes of the British Indian Army. Cast in to the pavers opposite these arches, is an imagined shadow of the three young brothers waiting to cross the road towards the site of their world-changing business.
