River in Concert

A series of six woodcut prints and a stop motion animation documenting movement, shape and gesture along the New River Path in London.

The series was created as part of a self-directed micro residency, to make work that connected with the local area around the new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, due to open in 2026. The centre will be housed in converted building that was once the New River Head. This connection led me to choose the New River as my site of interest.

The New River was London’s first aqueduct built in the 17th century to bring fresh, drinking water from Hertfordshire into the city. Only a small part of the river is still used for its original purpose, but it continues to be enjoyed as a place of respite and calm walking path by the general public.

I spent a number of hours walking the London section of the river, starting in Wood Green and ending in Islington at the New River Head. The prints were made from observational drawings created on site during long walks, which were later taken back to the studio to develop into a visual language that captured the character of the river today.

The prints were displayed as part of a group exhibition titled Seen & Unseen at The Peckham Hub in November 2025.

These monoprints were made during my MA Illustration.

The print series was made in response to the site of the former Chinatown in Limehouse; drawing on themes of movement, elements that connect the present landscape to the location’s cultural history - water, nature, tea - and personal sensory experience.

I spent a number of months walking around this small corner of Limehouse, while also delving into press and photo archives documenting the everyday life of the Chinese community that once called this place home. By nature of the area’s lcoation, and the context within which the Chinese arrived in the UK (i.e. the shipping trade), it is impossible to ignore the importance of the Docks and the sea to this story. Water and its movement, became a key reference for the visual language of the series.

The prints were displayed at my MA ‘work-in-progress’ Exhibition at UAL: Camberwell College of Arts in July 2025

Runners II (2024), Etching

We Move as One (2024) Etching with aquatint

Etchings

A selection of etching made in late 2024 and 2025, inspired by my walks and runs around Victoria Park. We Move as One and Runners II was acquired by Acrylicize in 2025, to be displayed at Urbanest, the new student accomodation building in Vauxhall, London.

*All the framed work displayed above is my own.

Piles of Leaves

Piles of Leaves is a zine made to inspire the importance and joy of meditation through movement in nature. More specifically, it is about my love of running, and the clarity and grounding that it brings me.

At the time of making, running was becoming more and more popular. Suddenly everyone was part of a run club, posting their runs on social media. Fashion and sports brands were capitalising on the trend too. While in theory there are many positives to running becoming so popular, it felt like it was being consumed by the market, which was sucking the joy away from it.

Piles of Leaves was created in response to this phenomenon. Running doesn’t have to be recorded, shared and compared. It can be slow, imperfect, just for you. In the zine, the series of drawings are accompanied by notes of subconcious thoughts made along my runs. The images draw attention to simple things, while charting the transformation of the park from autumn to winter. The narrative seeks to inspire the practice of close and repeated observation, and what that can do to help us feel more present and connected.

Each image in the zine is a unique, hand drawn monoprint.

IZABELA RADWANSKA ZHANG