Somerset, 2023

What does it mean to pay attention?

When we’re present with all our senses, what do we notice? How might we connect more deeply to a place and to ourselves?

Moving slowly, what can we learn from the sights… sounds… textures… scents in the air?

Might we perceive a greeting? Or even, a warning signal?

Join the field expedition to take in what we have in front of us and to consider the inevitability of loss.

How many generations before us walked this land? How many after us will pass this way? What will be here, for them?

This field expedition is a celebration of all that is alive right now, (animal, plant, mineral, fungi) and all that has passed. Through generations, through seasons.

We learn to live through mourning with joy and trepidation.

At this summer solstice, let us welcome this turning point in the year and accept the dimming of the light as we go around the cycle once again. And then, let us hope, again and again…

This participatory performance invited visitors at Shatwell Farm Open Day, June 17th 2023, to join a field expedition to collect, not physical things, but embodied memories through sensations and movement.

On the outward expedition, the field guides walked people through tactile interactions with the farm buildings, with plants in the field, and with the flags.

On the return, participants formed a procession, lead by ‘The Signal’, walking back to the farmyard, waving the flags to the beat of the drum, honouring past, present, and future inhabitants of this place.

Dramaturg: Mary Ann Hushlak

Curator: Kendra Matchett

Guides: Ashay Large, Florence Caidan, Tyler Moorehead

Flagpoles: Event Flag Hire

Photography: Dave Watts