My research about soil in Herefordshire is underpinned by the research
methodology of eco-artists, the Harrisons.
Newton (b. 1932) and Helen Harrison (1927-2018), a collaborative team
since the early seventies are considered leading pioneers of the eco-art
movement. Their role as artist encompasses diplomacy, ecology, investigators,
emissaries and art activism. Their installation, The Endangered Meadows of
Europe for the roof of the Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle in Bonn, Germany
(picture below, 1996-1998) provided ‘a new direction for the land art movement. The latter had become viewed as detrimental to nature.’ (Landa E.R., Feller
C, Soil and Culture, 2009)
The Harrisons ask three questions as a means of understanding the scope of their
project. Their questions offer a support to start my project.
1-‘How big is Here and how long is
our Now - understood as an instant, but the instant may be 250 years
long’?
How big is Here, understood as the expanse of soil in Herefordshire.
In the Anthropocene the local needs to be placed within soils present on the
planet. For example, the problematic erosion of top soil is both a global
predicament and a local problem.
How long is our Now, top soil is the outermost layer of soil. It takes between 500 and 1,000
years to form an inch of topsoil. Thus the time span for soil to be made by
nature is very long. That span is what geologists call deep time. It is
measured in terms of strata. Each strata was formed during specific moments in
the earth’s existence. This is well shown in the unprecedented C19 maps of
geological strata drawn by William
Smith (1769–1839). Smith was a surveyor and an inventor. His maps
represented an inventory of the ‘subterranean Geography of Gentlemen’s Estates
in order to discover the fossils likely to be useful for Manure, for Fuel
etc.…’ (Sir Joseph Banks).
2-‘How can what’s happening here
be understood and engaged?’ Looking at the past two centuries, the economic
importance of Smith’s maps is that they turned the earth into a resource to be
exploited on an industrial scale. This industrial pattern for extracting
resources from the earth was also applied to agriculture, hence the problematic
disappearance of top soil. This is caused by western scientific ‘advances’
adopted by vested economic interests. Top soils, in Herefordshire and globally,
are managed by local and global groups of people who share an interest in the
local soil. The groups with an economic intent include local authorities and
NGOs as well as the EU, WTO and the UN. They make soil what it is. For example, if
soil is instrumental to the WTO commercial targets, then soil will be seen as
an asset. Similarly, if soil is made to contribute to carbon capture targets,
then soil will be recognised as contributing to the common goods. On the other
hand, militant, ecologist and eco-feminist groups demand that ‘soils should not
be a dumping ground for agricultural chemicals. They should not be exhausted by
intensive farming practices. They should be nurtured and held dear’ and farmers
rewarded and supported to do so by local and global governing bodies.
Soil run-offs, David Throup, Environment Agency in
Herefordshire&Worcestershire
3-‘What patterns are forming or reforming? And
how can we, and those with us, add to the well-being of the now of this place?’
What patterns are
forming or reforming? There are many patterns and to take an example specifically linked
to the Anthropocene and the geological
turn, Christophe Bonneuil, a researcher in environmental history at the Centre
National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, sees a pattern of continuity rather than a break
in how modern industrialised agriculture has deregulated soil and the planet. Thus the visible forming and
re-forming pattern of the past two centuries is that of progress of agriculture
and its very severe damage to soil, until the geological turn into the
Anthropocene and the disappearance of topsoils . The planet and its soil as it is now is the by-product of western ‘progress’.
Bonneuil therefore rejects the notion of an advent, a sudden causation of this geological
turn. There is no clean slate that absolves those responsible for that damage: 90
or 100 at most coal and oil companies, cement, car organisations etc. – and the
many of us with a finger in those pies, particularly via shares and pensions.
There are many patterns
to explain the disappearance of soils. In
the public sphere, one such construct is the deficit model, the idea
that citizens would understand what was going on if only they did not suffer
from a deficit in knowledge. An example of this is the one-way communication of
climate change – from scientists to the public – as opposed to a public engagement
model that is much more interactive. A case in hand is Michael Gove’s November
2018 speech on plans to deal with climate change in the UK entitled NO SUCH
THING AS TOO MUCH INFORMATION - THE SCIENCE AND POLITICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE. WHAT
WE OWE TO SCIENTISTS.
how can we, and those
with us, add to the well-being of the now of this place?
We and those with us, comprises the group of
people who are invited to share their interest in the local soil and who may
want to participate in this project.
The research involves collaborative practice with fabricators, sharing authorship and questioning
the notion of authorship.
Interdisciplinarity with scientists, farmers, other
specialists is a way to structure and represent soil built on a variety of
experiences and knowledge
The project will emerge from these interactions.
How can we add to the well-being of the now of this
place? How can an aesthetic approach to soil achieve such high goals? This project aims to gather voices and information from an ad hoc community (invited participants), soils and their tiny population are included in this. People's concerns, their status and the status of soils will make the work. The work aims to be generous so as to enable reflection in the viewer and let more creativity onto others.
The project is a kind of field practice which aims to
collect samples of soils and unearth stories from people living here. How do people think of soil? How do they measure, evaluate, and compare soils in this low density English
agricultural shire? Prior to the advent of the new geological epoch, how did
fertility, yield, fragility, interest in or rejection of local uses,of myths and narratives of soils shape the relation
of locals to nature?
Sol lessivé, unknown artist. Paintings of soil profiles used by A. Demolon and
colleagues for their lectures in Paris (in the 1940s). Left: “Vertisol” from
the Centre region (Clermont-Ferrand, France); right: “Luvisol” from the
Île-de-France region (Versailles, France) (private collection).
Some outputs in November
2018, an installation with two contrasting elements
1- Herefordshire Soil & The Anthropocene, a Geological Section (2019) is based on William Smith’s Geological Section from London to Snowdon, Showing the Varieties of
the Strata and the Correct Altitudes of the Hills (1817). (See Smith's picture No 2).
-It proposes to show time and deep time which is
one of the essential components to make soil
-It aims to answer questions such as, how is
topsoil formed? What type of soil is in your area?
-It gives a 'possible' environmental feedback
on local soil and shows who affects and determines the soil of Herefordshire:
local and national authorities, NGOs, the EU, the WTO, eco-feminism,
permaculture and theology of soil etc.
-It is an assemblage which lays
bare much of the detailed practice going on in researching the
project Voicing the soil, including a word hoard, working with
the advisory group, unrequited invitations and seeking collaborators.
-It is a playful yet precise engagement with the
history of science and two distinct forms of production, the industrial (the
Fabriano paper used to draw the map is mass produced) and the handmade (the
illustrations).
The second element is
A Line of Topsoil bought at the DYI in Hereford; it is a form which moves:
- In this piece,
the use of ‘real’ topsoil is an attempt to extend the countryside field into an
institution. Topsoil represents itself: its exposure and erosion, loss of vibrant
life, its sterility, and its lack of standing in the eye of the law – soil is
not considered a common good in the new agricultural bill planned for after Brexit.
-One of the results of being incongruously displayed in
a white space, is that it displays itself as more than top soil and for me, it
is also a miniature landscape of valleys, ridges and spurs which echoes the 2D representation
of soil presented in the Geological Section.
-In alternative spaces, offices, warehouses, airports,
library, the work could make meaningful encounters depending on how the
artwork is installed, the length of the line could run through a whole building
and link up outdoor and indoor.
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