Fragments of the past turned into artworks

Artist Michael O'Reilly has taken pieces of medieval clay pipes, anti-aircraft shells, shards of porcelain and discarded bottletops, all discovered on the foreshore, and photographed them to produce a series of striking images.

The pictures, which will be on show at the River and Rowing Museum in Henley, Oxfordshire, feature 1,000 of the 4,000 fragments that O'Reilly has gathered in 15 years of kayaking on the river.

Recalling how the Thames was described as "liquid history" by an MP, John Burns, in 1929, the artist said: "This statement is powerfully true. I kayak to explore and understand what the Thames really means to the urban and rural communities it passes through.

"My interest is driven by the excitement of discovery and finding items that inspire me. I am fascinated by the frequency with which certain kinds of objects keep appearing.

"For example, clay roof tiles can often be found in one location and have turned the foreshore a rusty red colour as they are slowly broken down by the river."

Among the objects O'Reilly keeps at his home in Blackheath is part of a Bellarmine jar - an alcohol-filled vessel sometimes used to ward off the evil intentions of a witch.

Urine, nail clippings and lockets of hair were mixed together, heated up and put in the bottle, which was then buried under a victim's house or cast into the nearest river.

Roman figures and anti-aircraft shells also feature in O'Reilly's works, as does a cattle-bone toothbrush that would have contained bristles from a boar's neck. It is incorporated into a photograph of buttons and bones.

Fragments of pottery include part of a plate from the Prospect of Whitby pub in Wapping and another from the Royal Arsenal, the former ordnance factory in Woolwich. There are also more recent objects such as a Fifties hot water bottle and rubber gloves.

Most of the items were discovered between Gravesend and Richmond.

River and Rowing Museum curator Netty Rawlings said: "The photographs in Fragments From The Foreshore act as striking and colourful windows into ancient and modern lives along the Thames.

"These fragments of rare or everyday items bring communities to life. From brushing one's teeth to roofing a house, all aspects of living are displayed in the images."

The exhibition runs until 4 November.