Lara Maiklem has spent over 15 years on the banks of the River Thames in London, kneeling in the mud on the foreshore and staring for hours at a time at the same small patch of land. Maiklem is a mudlark: She looks for old objects—pins, buttons, clay pipe stems—that have been discarded in the river by long-forgotten ordinary Londoners. Unlike most rivers that run through cities, the Thames’ tidal rise and fall mean it’s constantly turning up new treasures. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Seven Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 50 Field Notes A new nature column. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Learn Lenience We were all young once. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Pay it Forward How to be a mentor. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Be Accountable On youth and responsibility. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Think Back A reexamination of nostalgia. Arts & Culture Issue 39 Grow Up In praise of aging.
