Crossed Paths, 2017

Crossed Paths is the first in a series of three crawling projects. It is an interdisciplinary practice – as – research project that engages with film, performance; the body in motion and mountain and upland ecology.

As a kind of cyborg – sheep/human wearing a sheep fleece and 14 GoPro cameras I am crawling incrementally for 5 1/2 miles along sheep tracks in the bio-diverse upland area of the Cambrian Mountains, the Elenydd Special Area of Conservation, West Wales. I began the journey in the peat and heather moorlands, known as the ‘carbon sink’, starting at the highest point, Pen y Garn (611m), I crawled down through the acid grassland and peaty Molinia/rush bogs into the improved pastures and managed farmlands and will soon reach the Pwllpeiran Upland Research Centre in Cwmystwyth.

I am making a collection of 14 films using 14 GoPro cameras attached to my legs, arms, back, stomach, head and hands.

The GoPro film footage will be viewed and analysed for macro and microscopic scientific data by researchers at Pwllpeiran – The Upland Research Platform, centre for the study of upland farmed ecosystems, Institute of Biological, environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University. The research group’s analytical and anecdotal discussions will be recorded and edited and edited into the film footage.

Five local musicians Ric Lloyd, Harriet Earis, Tim Noble, Diarmuid Johnson and Jasper Salmon have been invited to innovatively respond to the landscape and my performance. Poet Zoe Skoulding and writer Phil Smith have been invited to contribute poetry and text to the project. Hannah Mann is the photographer and Rhys Thwaites – Jones from Fforest Films is making a documentary film.

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FIELDWORK DOCUMENTS

        

 

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ARTIST
Miranda Whall