This project will look at evidence of man's historical presence in a landscape. I shall use the occurrence of stinging nettles on Dartmoor and the area of West Devon where I live to show how they are indicators of historic activities of man. These are landscapes that I know intimately and invoke a sense of connection and belonging through the traces of previous occupation. I consider man's activities over time to be a Natural force in the Landscape. As the original activity fades, its effect on the surrounding topography moves outward through time like a ripple through water. These traces give me a feeling of belonging.
I am aware that John Blakemoor's early work focused upon natural forces at work on the land. Paul Hart considers the activities of man within the landscape setting, including deliberately manufactured features. Francis Hodgson says of Hart in his introductory essay, "his placid, formally peaceful Landscape is pregnant with stories that lurk in the mud or the mist. Hart shows the Landscape man-made." Lucy Lippard explores a Sense of Place and of belonging in a landscape. Speaking at the Creative Time Summit in 2013, she states, "A true sense of place is a virtual immersion rooted in lived experience, political commitment, and topographical familiarity." Tim Ingold also argues that we should adopt what he calls a "dwelling perspective", according to which the Landscape is constituted as an enduring record of, and testimony to, the lives and work of past generations who have dwelt within it, and in so doing, have left there something of themselves. My work draws threads from the above practitioners and brings them together to be particular to how I relate to and feel within a landscape. I hope that by understanding the traces and clues left by those who have come before us, viewers of my work will feel the same sense of belonging with the land that I do, or at the very least experience some degree of equivalence .
My research for Stinging Nettles, their use in archaeology, and the conditions they require has come from several sources, including the Flora Britannica , the wildlife trust , and the Forestry Commission Scotland . Locations were sourced using Ordnance survey maps , Tithe maps , and online resources such as Legendary Dartmoor .
Nettles need soil rich in phosphates, which is why they flourish in the wake of human and agricultural colonisation.Human activities produce phosphates in abundance, cattle-pens, middens, bonfire sites, refuse dumps, graves and graveyards. The phosphates we produce remain in the soil for extraordinary lengths of time, and archaeologists often use nettle stands as indicators of phosphate-rich land and, consequently, a likely site of human habitation or industry.
I found images made by Edward Steichen in the book Flora Photographica . A passage on the images states the work was experimental and used the colour imbibition method . I was struck by the graphic feel of the photos, the vivid colours, and the slightly unreal feeling I experienced looking at them. So I decided to try and imbue my images with a similar sense, altering the colours in my pictures to draw focus, especially to the stinging nettles. The unnatural colours, an image constructed using layers, adds weight to the unnatural work of man. I have also used Similarity , visual elements that are similar, in this case, Stinging Nettles, in repetition to draw attention. A verbal equivalent would be Stinging Nettles, Stinging Nettles, Stinging Nettles … ; reinforcing the link between the work of man and nettles.
The series of images starts and ends with ruined dwellings, and there is a loose correspondence in the sequence to the stages of life.
Sustainability is something I aspire towards in my practice. The UN World Commission on Environment defines it as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs ." To this end, the images are displayed using a simple website that I have constructed using just HTML, CSS, and Javascript. The code will be made open-source and will be available for future projects by others and me, following the FAIR for data principles. To improve the application's carbon footprint, the site is static and is hosted by Amazon Web Services . The work is displayed with text as a series of images scrolling in from the right horizontally. This arrangement gives the piece a feeling of continuity, softening the edges so that you look at the content . In addition, the surface chosen and the display mechanics allow the work to be read as information instead of art.