Viewed from Blackfriars Bridge, SE1
For four nights, this free public artwork, created in partnership with disabled-led theatre company Graeae, will celebrate disabled young actors. Through a captivating visual narrative, this projected installation will engage thousands of visitors, encouraging conversations around inclusion and urban resilience. Turning the Tide has recently been awarded the prestigious Art Explora - Académie des beaux-arts European Award, the leading European Award championing new dialogues between the arts and audiences.
Turning the Tide is a major cultural engagement programme by the Turner Prize-nominated artist Catherine Yass, celebrating and making visible Deaf and disabled people who are often marginalised in public space. Catherine’s own personal and family experience caring for her daughter who is disabled is part of the driving force behind the project’s core objective to celebrate and provide a platform for people who are often marginalised in public space. Catherine has brought her lived experience to work dynamically and sensitively across the project including leading visual art workshops, a riverside exhibition and a site-specific film installation.
The installation is a major, site-specific projection installation of disabled young performers projected over the Thames onto the iconic disused Blackfriars Railway Bridge columns for four nights in September 2026. Catherine worked closely with disabled-led theatre company Graeae and twelve members of their Young Company to work with film and projection to create a poetic world considering what the Thames and water means to them as young Londoners.
As a political group, Graeae Young Company are aware of the impact of being on these iconic columns. They refuse to be sidelined. This project is part of their ongoing activism – to be seen and heard.
Catherine Yass comments, The red columns of the old Blackfriars Railway Bridge have stood in the Thames majestic and resilient ever since 1864. Working with young disabled people gave me the idea to project videos of them onto the bridge columns as a way of increasing their visibility in public life. My daughter is disabled and this has shown me that, like her, many disabled people are excluded from public places. She is part of Graeae Theatre Young Company and it is exciting that we are now working together to create videos of the young people that will be projected onto the bridge columns, with them performing in response to texts they create. My hope is that Turning the Tide will go some way towards turning the tide on our society’s disabling attitudes and structures.
There will be stewards, volunteers and access support workers ready to welcome all audience members on the bridge. Detailed information on viewing areas, access and suggested routes will be uploaded in early September along with an easy access guide. If you have any questions in advance, please contact us.
Blackfriars Rd, London SE1 9UD
Blackfriars Pier, White Lion Hill, EC4V 3QR
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