Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block)

Dutch/Light (for Agneta Block) is a new artwork by Jyll Bradley, commissioned by Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust and Turner Contemporary in collaboration with Culture Kent, in response to the infamous 1667 Dutch Raid on the River Medway which brought an end to the second Anglo-Dutch war (1665 – 1667). The work draws inspiration from the cultural exchange between the UK and The Netherlands based on growing plans that flourished in peacetime following the Raid.

As part of her project, Jyll Bradley has invited artist and poet Fabian Peake to write a poem that further reflects on the events of the Dutch Raid. In his work, imagery and historical facts collide unpredictably in the form of statements linking figures and events from the past to the present.

block he watched while now became then and then became now [sheerness] a thousand tongues gawked at the sails from a corner of kent [admiral’s fid and fid] gunter rigs told every woman that godwits had probed the medway mud [dukeofalbemarle] corrugated time licks the anchored dutch like a lollipop [clew garnet block] there was no phantom ship here; the cutwater this time was real [thebattleofcapestvincent] a surprise dreamt up by de witt – unseen, a turnstone flipped a pebble [peterpettscapegoat] it was not clear who he was, this naked man, thinking in snatches [belaying pin rack and pin] he walked in the marshland counting birds, pulling ships from his brain [vanderdecken] small saplings sprouted from his shoulders as the chain was breached [rivermouthriver] later, the brothers were lynched and half-eaten by the mob [jandebaen] the corpses felt a painter’s brush on their upside-down ribs [greenhouseinlabour] they leant their thoughts against a distant curtain wall [michielderuyter] the pineapple told agneta of its paraguayan cradle. her green fingers listened [parrel truck and ribs] it is so hot under this leaning glass, a copse of mizzen masts could grow [sirrobertseppings] the mist will see a voice in the trees and dust on the idea [standing rigging] quick, powder monkey! bring the magazine, the gun-crew is waiting