During a crit, I presented a literature search for soil-words, together with soil samples.
These ranged from clay to mud. People
were divided within themselves on whether this was soil. Part of them felt that
it was, while another part defined soil only as say humus. Collecting soils
around Herefordshire led me to understand that I needed to find a soil
biologist to learn about local soils. I extrapolated from this to conceive the
idea of a Herefordshire word hoard, inspired by Landmarks, written by Robert Macfarlane in 2015. The word hoard
would be presented on a beautiful roll of heavy Fabriano paper, with soil running
from the wall into the room.
What emerged in
October is the difficulty that arises from my being an in-comer in
Herefordshire and a foreigner in the UK. I cannot have a voice, but I can be a
catalyst. How to find these people for face-to-face interaction, encounter
local communities and their social and cultural significance for
soil? Hence an early action was to put
together an Advisory Group, including a local sponsor, Nick Read from the Brightspace
Foundation, Katie Brymer a young local graphic designer, Franca Luz a
mindfulness practitioner and Perry Walker a game designer. I used interviews as
practice to learn both about soil and Herefordshire (see Analysis of work
process below).
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