This work is a result of a 2-week residency in Phenzhopehaugh in the Scottish Borders in August and September.
I come from a man-made landscape – the Fens of Lincolnshire. I had expected to find a landscape untouched, where its sheer enormity would mean that any human activity would not be evident, where the only the four elements would leave their traces. When I arrived, I found this was not the case. The landscape had been transformed by human activity. Woodland has been cleared, there are remnants of buildings and track ways in remote places, the pathways of sheep have marked the landscape, and forestry is a huge industry. While I pondered this endless shifting, I read and reread some old books on embroidery I had brought with me. There is the feeling that there have been many incarnations of the land – it looked like a patchwork. I finally settled on making these connections apparent, by drawing parallels between the transformative qualities of these two activities.
The sound piece which accompanies it is created from sounds I recorded on site, to mirror the soundscape of the place, both its past and its present.