Poetics of Place

Abstract

First comes the impulse, the lure of the outdoors. Then comes walking: the considered placement of step after step, a warming up through movement and curiosity. Then comes stillness: the simple act of standing or sitting, calm and quiet, with all senses open -- not as a wish to place one's thoughts on the land, nor to seek reflection of the self or journey through personal memory, but to be still, quite simply, in mind and body, open to the land, the elements and the weather, and to the energy and story of place.

Devising installations to be sited outdoors brings the landscape as well as the cultural history of particular places into the form and performance of an artwork. This wrestles final control away from us -- we must work with the environment, and, because of this, decisions are made along the way that we could never have foreseen. Uncertainty in this kind of work may be challenging but there is beauty in the synchrony of influences. And because the installations are in public spaces, there is the added dimension of other people encountering the artworks, often unexpectedly, and becoming involved with them: a dynamic of performance and audience is created. The reaction, and a sense of connection or tension between the two, is unpredictable and allows for the final completion of a piece.

This work incorporates seven separate pieces and in the 'fragmentation of a rainbow' challenges complacency and expectations in a time of uncertainty: a changing climate, declining habitats and species, and a lack of clarity about how humans might balance personal and spiritual attachment to stunning landscapes, including mountains, with actions that impact them and the future of their ecosystems.

Notes

1 University of Glasgow, 2017. Harriet Fraser: ‘Open Fell Poetics’ A year in upland farming: Investigating the Lake District as a Cultural Landscape through practice based poetics.

2 Storm Desmond, 5 December 2015, caused dramatic flooding in this valley and in many other locations across Cumbria. Damage forced hundreds of people from their homes (many for more than a year) and destroyed roads and bridges.