Thus said the Land - Ashburnham Place

THUS SAID THE LAND is a process based work that probes the power paradigms at play in any given place. It asks the Land to act as witness to anything that it has experienced. Rather than focus on human activity, the land itself is called upon as 'witness', during a process that asserts agency where it is least suspected.

The work is carried out as site specific performances. A forensic square is staked out and clay imprints from the ground within the square are made. These clay imprints become the record of the 'witness statements' given by the land. In a second step, again, as part of the site specific performative process, photographs are made to record the site in its context and the land inside the square in an eagle's eye view.

The performance of the staking out process is a form of embodied confession in which the participants approach the land. The performative gestures mark the problematic human stance of dominion, extraction, ownership, and assumed superiority. Taking the clay imprints shifts the performer into a receptive stance. They await the statement from the land. It is not given in human words or writing. It comes as form, embodiment, imprint.

For this "Thus Said The Land in community" 2026, four groups of people set out across the land at Ashburnham Place as part of a festival there. This was the first time that the work has been performed as a community. The images above were taken by the participants on their mobile phones.

Because of its simplicity, the work lends itself to exist as small decentralised performances. It is very impactful in achieving a shift in stance toward the land. Participants quickly come to see the land as an other with agency. It is my hope that this work will move participants toward a friendship with the land.

If you would like to host/hold a local performance with your local group, school class, church, eco event, or as an arts event, please feel free to contact me. I have a "how to"guide available for holding a 'Thus Said the Land' session. The guide includes more information and background than I can provide through the website.