Janette Porter - Artist
Materials - Hessian sacks, rope, tidal river, rain and wind.

Ethos -
I make work here as a memory of my family’s commitment to the Liverpool docks. Three generations of dockers before me: my father, my grandfathers and great grandfather together amassed 135 years of dock life. As a child I spent days wandering, playing and experimenting here under the watchful eye of my father. As the fourth generation of the Porter, Doyle and Casey family I now also work on the docks. The fact that that I am female and that my work is creative, says much about recent changes in our city’s life. Now, this place is a living studio. The dock reveals itself through site specific work: tree plantings, stone placing and wild flower seed scatterings. My actions on the docks are social sculpture generated for a docker audience.

Action -
The River Mersey once delivered rich cargoes that would pass through the dock. The river now handles less traffic and the variety of cargo changes depending on the seasons. Contact with the river’s edge is changing and land is being sold for lighter commercial use and residential developments. Access is now restricted to some areas of the dock, with less people being employed here. I have been walking and working here for many years, documenting changes. In 2006, I created a site-specific, weather-beaten series of works at Garston Docks. The dock provides a space to embrace industrial, river-based activity and its heritage. The sheds, now empty of cargo, await an action or an interaction - work that is about the atmosphere of dock life. This series of works was about linking the past to the future. It utilised stillness to demonstrate the pivotal nature of the transition
point that the docks are experiencing and moving through.

Copyright work and photography; the artist.

Acknowledgment
With thanks to Garston Docks, Yew Tree Farm Shop, Kenny Porter for Technical support, Paula Taylor and Debbi Lander for assistance.
Photographs J Porter K Porter P Taylor D Lander

Action
Invited to take part in ‘Passion For the Real’ a research project with Gothenburg University and Moscow Institute for Contemporary Art my work in Russia is exploring the perception of place, physical and conceptual.

The time at the ‘Academica Dascha’ was spent in discussion and workshops with 15 postgraduate students from Russia, Sweden, America and Germany as well as presentations and lectures from artists, writers and critics. The aim of this project is to examine ways of learning outside the constraints of education establishments. The facilities were basic, no real studio infrastructure for working while the surrounding area provided lakes, wildlife, long walks and quiet rest from consumerism and technology.

Being conscious of places, how they are used and managed by people, I found myself intrigued that a site can have a strong sense of unreality and lack identity. A bit like the paintings produced by artists who still use the facilities regularly; they select and portray an idyllic situation while surrounded by decay and confusion of purpose and many forms of poverty.

This is Russia element 1; there will be further work published for the Moscow Biennale in March 2007

Acknowledgment
With thanks to Valand School of Fine Art, Gothenburg, Sweden

Leslie Johnson and Frederick Svensk, leaders of the project ‘Passion for the Real’ and participating students Norwich School of Art and Design, Russian Valenki.
Copyright of the work and photography; the contributers

As an artist I have been challenged and inspired by the people I have met and the stories they have shared with me. This project leaves their legacy within an already vibrant community. The project participants listened to and gathered the stories, and then worked together to create a platform for the sharing.

L@tE projects aim to invite people to respond creatively to their environment. This project has attempted to research the way in which people and places have been linked via their steps. It has also attempted to understand how, over time, those lives have been affected by the city’s developmental process.

Copyright of the work and photography; the contributors.

Living at the Edge, Liverpool UK
‘Stories of Steps’
River Mersey, August 2006

Contributor - Janette Porter
Occupation - artist