Mary Grace Campbell

I am from North of the River

Rivers are dynamic sites of memory and can shape both personal and national identity. They used to be natural, moving entities but today have been manipulated into wholly engineered, stagnant spaces. 

In this piece, I am exploring the significance of rivers in the formation of nationhood and the creation of identity based on perceived ‘natural’ landscapes in Germany. Solidifying the rivers Rhine, Danube, Elbe and Spree in concrete is both reminiscent of border walls, such as the Berlin Wall, and rivers as borders, as well as the very material which currently reinforces the rivers themselves. The national border walls and the concrete embankments become almost synonymous symbols for our current attempts of manipulating migration. 

The concrete has been mixed with sands from the banks of the Missouri River, just minutes away from my home in the US, to connect the German rivers to the migration history from Germany to the Midwestern parts of the United States. I often refer to myself as from “North of the River”, growing up on the northern side of the Missouri river which splits the city, yet this statement has dual significance. Hailing also from the global North, this shapes my approach and perspective to the global events of migration today.

Installation, 2018