Since moving to London more than 15 years ago, Lara Maiklem has made a hobby – and then a career – out of combing through the muddy foreshore of the river Thames and collecting and writing about the fascinating objects she finds. A self-described ‘mudlark’, Maiklem keeps her eyes peeled for ‘straight lines and perfect circles – the things that nature doesn’t make’ to identify everyday artefacts that connect her to Londoners dating back to ancient Rome. In this short film, Maiklem details her joy in finding personal objects such as pots, shoes and, in one case, a glass eye, which, without someone collecting them at just the right time, would inevitably weather away. Time spent on the foreshore has also given Maiklem perspective on how, over the past century, rubbish has transformed from materials that will reintegrate with nature once they emerge from the mud to plastics that will last forever.

Via Open Culture