In this episode, project curator Matt Baker speaks with artist Mark Zygadlo about his project 'Landwatership'.
Landwatership proposes that the vital and fundamental elements of our environment, land and water, are active members of our localised communities. It presupposes that no part of our environment is unaffected by human presence and no part of us is unaffected by our environment. These factors have been foregrounded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
By focusing on the Glenmidge Burn, and the community of its catchment, walking the waterways and the catchment boundary guided by members of the community and representatives of riverine interest, Mark will interrogate the theory of Landwatership.
Information gathered will underpin a conceptual re-mapping of where we live and ask: is Landwatership a meaningful way for communities to co-identify themselves with place? Is it a matrix of change, can it help us address the tensions between global economics and local viability? Does it provide a way of addressing the approaching threat of climate change foreshadowed by the Coronavirus Pandemic?
Mark Zygadlo is an artist based in Dumfries & Galloway . Cabinetmaking, carving, boatbuilding, timber framing and writing supported a growing family and, since 2009, he has channelled these disciplines into the making of public artworks.