“So we’re standing here on this wide edge, a rim between two countries; on the verge of moving land at the mouth of all these rivers where boats have come and gone, come and gone (and sunk), come and gone again. This is a good place to recall histories.

“And where does the Dunlin’s estuary meet ours? If we play in the mud, can we see the lugworms’ point of view? Littleton’s whale mis-swam but the birds and elvers know their ways. There’s such riches. If we playfully, imaginatively, gently inhabit the estuary alongside such wonderful beasts, can we recollect cohabitation and tend it well?

“Mud between our toes, briny wind and light that’s doubled by the wetness. Being here in a place of saltmarsh, turbines and seagrass; half-seen, visible and forgotten, distance is opened up by passing bird call. Here’s a stretch of land where we can be ourselves, come into our senses.”

Artist in Residence Deborah Aguirre Jones is collaborating with people who live, work and play in the area to:

• explore the place through imagination, memory and daydreams, making artworks, photos, sounds, books and other artefacts;
• affect the area’s visibility by describing it and sharing it with other people;
• experience the landscape in simple, playful and physical activities together, venturing out (and away from our screens) into the place itself;
• encourage visits from people living in the region immediately around A Forgotten Landscape’s area; and
• informally twin with somewhere else in the world, seeing and understanding these respective places within the bigger picture of our changing planet.

These arts activities will work with and between the historical, archaeological, ecological, educational, biodiversity and other strands of the wider project, creating conversations and relationships which are personal and ongoing, allowing new and personal versions of the landscape to be invented and included alongside those we uncover, enliven, revive and maintain.

What Deborah finds out from people will shape new interpretation boards and benches across the project area. The collaborations will also lead to a public artwork at Severn Beach in 2018. Listen to Deborah talk about art and the landscape in the video clip below.

Or to find out more about Deborah’s free Roving Art Group, visit our Events page.