Originally published on jerwoodopenforest.org/journal

The layering of histories in the landscape interests me. My project explores loss and memory – in relation to specific trees but also the wider landscape. Doreen Massey, reflecting on a woodland, writes of ‘places as meeting places; of people, of histories, of the flows and movements of myriad nonhuman things. In that sense places do not come fully formed … rather they are intersections, and as such must be negotiated.’ (Kings Wood: A Context). Birklands is an amazing example of this meeting of human history, natural history and a place formed through ongoing negotiation.

Originally published on: jerwoodopenforest.org/journal

Last week I visited forests in the Sherwood area looking at Forestry Commission sites as part of initial research for my Jerwood Open Forest project. My starting point is a search for ‘lost’ trees, but the forests are full of tangential paths.. they lead to stories eventually but by a circuitous route.