PAST-ORAL: the art of the land
What is the boundary between life and art? Is there one? Does it matter? In midsummer 2021, I co-curated PAST-ORAL, an outdoor art event that raised these questions.
PAST-ORAL at Lower Hewood Farm in Dorset featured work by more than 33 artists, landworkers and farmers in 16 different locations on the smallholding. Some of the participants were human, others were non-human species, including plants.
The event was part of Dorset Art Weeks 2021, but it also celebrated 10 years of art and organic farming at Hewood by the show’s co-curator, Alexa de Ferranti.
Alexa made a short film about PAST-ORAL with Hydar Dewachi – you can watch the film below. Among other things, it features audience reaction to ‘Hedge’, a film I made about a section of hedge gradually springing into life.
