Figure with Landscape

Abstract

A narrative account of a scenographer walking the fells of the Lake District, structured as a single, long, impossible journey and positioning walking as an extension of the scenographer’s process. ‘Design’ is visible within the landscape and also within the scenographer’s own walking body: how it negotiates changes in terrain through its design and how the figure can change landscape through its presence. The notion of being ‘out of place’ in landscape is explored and the theme of scale looms large. Heidegger’s phenomenon of entfernung or de-severance offers a way of understanding the walker’s experience of distance and closeness while being with landscape – this can be found within scenographic endeavour. The narrative concludes by acknowledging the perspective of the scenographer as creating a particular kind of walk, and the walk as bringing the lived experience of the scenographer further into their work.