Feel’d
Hoping to unearth a deeper understanding of my emotional relationship to this field and make work that reflected this I have walked often, sat patiently, watched, listened and waited.
I have been nourished by the simple act of spending time here, but I have also found the complexity of the life that makes the field what it is overwhelming. The need for an intimate connection was all mine and the nature of the relationship remained elusive or unclear. My body, in place, often seemed the only stable and reliable part of the experience and in time I began to re-imagine the field as another body, one of flesh and bone like my own. This metaphor helped me to anchor my thoughts and initiate creative responses. The more I held on to this notion the more physical echoes I saw, felt and imagined around me.
Bark and turf became skin; enfolding, protecting. Rock and stone were as a bone structure supporting the weighty flesh of the earth. Sap circulated like blood; the ground rose and fell with a gentle corporeal sensuality; the trees and river banks held scars. The weir water foamed and thrummed in a constant rhythm. The intricacies of a hedgerow, the harbouring darkness at their heart felt mysterious and delicate; as vital to the life of the fields 'body' as my own internal spaces were to me. The colour pink bleeding through everything, telling of life and tenderness and a echoing vulnerability.
The field breathes and pulses as I do.
2024