“To the Rushing Water, Speak: I Am”
A new mural brings art, ecology, and belonging to Chisholm Bridge
If you’ve crossed the River Cam on the Chisholm Trail Bridge recently, you might have noticed something quietly extraordinary blooming on its concrete sides: a vibrant new mural, painted with care by local young people and community artists, flowing in soft blues and greens beneath your feet.
The mural, part of our River Cam CAN (Climate Action through Nature) project, was co-created with students from Red Balloon – a centre offering alternative curriculums to young people out of mainstream education – and led by Cambridge artist Hilary Cox Condron alongside street artist and therapist Tim Shuker-Yates. Together, they’ve transformed a once-anonymous structure into a layered celebration of water, identity and place.
“From my point of view as an artist, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have enough content for the walls,” said Tim. “But the opposite was the case — we now have a truly collaborative approach to this mural. To have so many students involved and engaged throughout the day, let alone meet with us at the site in their own time, is nothing short of amazing.”
Chalk, algae, and the unseen world beneath our feet
At the base of the mural — and at the base of our local chalkstreams — lie coccolithophores: ancient, microscopic algae with delicate calcium carbonate skeletons. These organisms have drifted in prehistoric seas for millennia, their remains settling into thick beds of chalk, forming the porous rock that now feeds our rare chalk-fed streams.
Inspired by a recent WaterTable conference and a lecture by Dr Haydon Bailey, the mural gives visual voice to this unseen ecology. The chalk aquifers sustain tributaries like Hobson’s Brook, Cherry Hinton Brook, and Coldham’s Brook – and directly in front of the mural, a chalkstream winds through Ditton Meadows, offering clear, steady water to the River Cam.
“There are fewer than 300 chalkstreams worldwide,” says Hilary, “and around 85% of them are in England. Often described as England’s rainforests, we are incredibly lucky to have so many right here in Cambridge, but it is absolutely vital that we protect them.”
Guardians of the River
The mural’s theme, River Protectors, was inspired by the work of anthropologist and water rights researcher Dr Veronica Strang, whose short film exploring human relationships with rivers helped shape the students’ approach. Before picking up a paintbrush, they reflected on what it means to protect something you depend on — not just physically, but culturally and spiritually too.
They explored the threats facing chalkstreams like those feeding the Cam – pollution, over-abstraction, habitat loss – and considered how creative action can be a form of stewardship. Their ideas flowed into symbols, sketches and colour, working outside next to the River Cam and using natural inks and mark-making tools that Hilary had made from local plants – becoming a mural that honours both the river and the responsibility to care for it.
Belonging
For Hilary, who lives nearby in Abbey, the mural has also been about place – and the quiet power of residents shaping and celebrating their own spaces.
“This mural was made by residents and appreciated by residents. People stopped, chatted, joined in. It felt really embracing.”
What began as a creative outreach for the River Cam CAN campaign became something more: a shared moment of attention, conversation, and belonging.
A mural as a bell tower
The project’s emotional undertone was inspired by a poem Hilary often returned to during its making – Rainer Maria Rilke’s Let This Darkness Be a Bell Tower, translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows. Its final lines echo through both paint and purpose:
“To the rushing water, speak: I am.”
The mural does exactly that – quietly declaring life, connection, and resilience. It honours not only the natural systems we depend on, but the human need to feel seen and rooted in place.
As a tribute to the late Joanna Macy – an environmental activist and peace scholar whose life work helped so many “turn themselves to wine” in bitter times – the mural also feels like a whisper to the future: gentle, determined, enduring.
The River Has Rights
Just as the mural gives voice to the River, a declaration from the Friends of the River Cam now gives it standing. In 2020 the River Cam became the first UK river to have its rights declared, affirming that the Cam is not just a resource, but a living being with rights of its own:
“We therefore declare that the River Cam, its tributaries, and aquifers have the following rights arising from their very existence in nature:
– The right to flow and be free from over-abstraction
– The right to be free from pollution
– The right to perform its essential functions of flooding, moving sediment, recharging groundwater and sustaining biodiversity
– The right to feed and be fed by sustainable aquifers
– The right to native biodiversity
– The right to restoration
– The right to maintain its connections with other streams and rivers.”
The mural beneath Chisholm Bridge doesn’t just decorate a crossing – it speaks to these rights in colour, form, and community.
About the Project
The mural was commissioned by CPPF as part of the River Cam CAN (Climate Action through Nature) project and made possible by funding from the National Lottery Communities Fund and Cambridge City Council. We are also grateful to Cambridgeshire County Council for giving permission to paint the mural on their bridge. 
With thanks to our partners:
Cambridge City Council, Water Sensitive Cambridge, Red Balloon, the River Cam CAN coalition of local groups and volunteers, and the Friends of the Cam.
📸 Photography by Barry Falk https://www.barryfalk.com
🎨 Instagram:
Hilary Cox Condron @hilarycoxcondron
Tim Shuker-Yates @ab._.de
