Welcome to WOOD.LAND.

Welcome to WOOD.LAND., 2021

Portraits and soundscapes from the urban woods pre-imagine a warm, woodland welcome not always extended to those from marginalised groups.

Welcome to WOOD. LAND. aims to gain access to deeper research on the emotional and social connections between ethnicity and nature, and the environmental implications of exclusion.

Drawing on forest ritual and oral traditions, Welcome to WOOD.LAND. creates conversations in nature. It challenges and re-negotiates ‘urban’ narratives, which often do not include green space.

In the woods, we bear witness to our collective experience of disenfranchisement in nature. Walking together, we welcome ourselves, and inhabit the urban woods on new terms.

Soundscape:

Natural soprano and bass tones from bird calls, rustllng trees, scrambling squirrels, beats on hollow logs, runners on gravel, dogs in puddles, and planes rumbling overhead.

Field recordings from Highgate Wood and Queens Wood North London.

Spoken word:

Birds, squirrels, woodland sounds and percussion of woodland runners accompany Debi Tinsley's (www.debitinsley.com) vocal performance of a deconstructed version of Maya Angelou's epic poem 'When Great Trees Fall'.

Portrait of wood walker in ‘protective’ red sculpted leather cape with orange grosgrain ribbon tie.

Portrait of wood walker in ‘protective’ red sculpted leather cape with orange grosgrain ribbon tie.

Intimate armour ‘fittings’ to open conversation formed part of the methodology for portraits and relational research.

Intimate armour ‘fittings’ to open conversation formed part of the methodology for portraits and relational research.

Portrait of participants in organza masks

Portrait of participants in organza masks

Protective cape from sculpted and fired leather offcuts is lined with vintage Japanese brocade.

Protective cape from sculpted and fired leather offcuts is lined with vintage Japanese brocade.

Portraits of wood walkers in protective armour

Portraits of wood walkers in protective armour