Making ground is in essence something that is moving towards or making progress and this underlies the ethos of my practice. Unfolding and emerging in response to material and process enables the work to build in a slow and evolutional manner. It is my aim to work closely with the character of the project and in particular, if it is site-responsive, with careful consideration to place.

Breaking Ground (2022) is an example of work where material, place and method reflect closely to the proposed site. The work was made on location, (in the field), utilising the soil and habitat provided and re-enacting methods and activity associated with the character of the landscape. The work developed slowly over time. Building block by block, a grid formed in the land and monuments rose as a consequence of forms extracted from the ground. No material was added nor any taken away.

Breaking Ground as it was found prior to dismantling. One of the monuments had collapsed (this one was more sandy) and the habitat had the beginnings of an autumnal hue. The cuts are evident but softening as the ground becomes weathered.

As the exhibition came to a close, each artist was required to take their work down and leave the site as it was found. In the case of Breaking Ground this was not going to be straight forward as the scars and cuts were still evident. Though each block was found a hole which it more or less filled, it was never going to be ‘as i found it’. The work, then, became about ‘making ground’ in the literal sense. As I undertook to mend and restore the ground, the work became about suturing a wound. The scars will probably be evident for a while but the earth will heal over time and the land will reshape itself and make ground.

REFLECTION: Making Ground

WORK IN PROGRESS: An Area of Open Land

REFLECTION: leaving The Field Clear