Future Wash: an installation by Anna Harding at the Old Worker's Club

An installation by Anna Harding, presented by GroundWork at the Old Worker's Club in King's Lynn.

Future Wash became the title for a body of work which emerged during Harding's residency for the Wash Estuary project. Using the Old Worker's Club as her studio, kindly lent by its new owner, she became fascinated by its history and archives, and that context influenced her approach to uncovering further local histories.

The work asks who, at a time of accelerating climate change, we can trust to show us the future. Even in medieval times, carvings in churches tried to convey a moral code and prevent rebellion and debauchery, while routines tied to the seasons and climate were, and still are, crucial for survival: knowing when to plant and harvest, watching fish and tides, learning from nature.

Harding explores figures past, present and future. Family stories, old books, archive images from True's Yard in North Lynn, and people she drew at Custom House, King's Lynn, at sunset all infuse the work, alongside memories of the Wash's salt marsh, childhood holidays in Heacham and ancestors in Skegness. To stop dwelling in the past, she presents young professionals as the next chapter, replacing historic figures with their forward thinking, ideas for the Future Wash and optimism.

Harding's work responds to the past, present and future of places to which she feels strongly connected, combining interests in modernist optimism, seasonality and climate change. Her practice involves research, plein air painting and photography before further work in the studio, in oils, large watercolour, drawing and print.