The Folds of the Fields: A Performative Collaboration in the South of England

Our artists’ book, Field Notes, explores the idea of sequence and mapping. Our collaboration uses mapping as a practical activity for articulating three fields in Devon, involving different stages of drawing, writing and performing. Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, a writer, is interested in whether the fields hold memories and how these might be accessed through historical research, engagement with organisms in the fields today, and performative processes. Rebecca Thomas, a visual artist, explores making as connecting and is interested in drawing while walking in the field, making marks whilst moving, using a variety of mediums to record, physically and literally, the body’s movement through space. The artists’ book looks at the relationship between this physical mark-making and language in the conventional sense of the word. This essay is a discussion and reflection of our processes, with a focus on conversation as collaboration and perceptions of ecosystems in this environment.