Fiona
Fiona Spirals

Marshy Mud Flats and the Call of the Curlew will be an exhibition
of my work in St Mary’s Higham,

20th – 29th June 2025

I will be in residence during the exhibition, making work and
greeting people daily,
I intimately know this beautiful building and its setting, a medieval church
on the edge of Higham Marshes, North Kent.
For this exhibition, the church becomes an imaginary vessel,
an Ark protecting and cherishing the rich biodiversity of the
North Kent Marshes.
However, many of the birds here are endangered and on
The Red List.
This Ark has witnessed thousands of years of birds and here we are in
2025 confronted with the loss of so much.
I’m particularly gripped by curlews, who are known for their elegant curved beaks
and plaintive cry.
Yet we are likely to lose them in the next ten years if we don’t help them.
In the Ark of St Mary’s I will share my drawings, collages, photographs,
soundscapes and poems, to engage people in this place and its
wonderful species. There will also be information about our marsh, and,
in partnership with the national group Curlew Action, specifically about curlews.
There will be a talk about the birds of the
Thames Estuary marshes focusing on North Kent,
and most importantly what we can do to help.
This project has been evolving for a few years.
Come and see the Marshes through my eyes

The exhibition takes place with the full support of the Churches
Conservation Trust who own St Mary’s, and the Friends of St Mary’s Higham.