From End of Time Finds, line art drawing, 2021. The image here, taken from End of Time Finds, was taken at 5.36 on Sunday 10 June 2018, a period following the death of my parents during which I itemised as much as possible of my father’s archive before the house was sold. Reading the past (excavation, itemisation etc) involves a process that replicates and folds into its object. So excavator and archivist leave traces of their own, and new objects are made.Scopic, installation shotSubstratum, reframed found field photograph (1949) from Snappy Snaps albumthis is that has been, reframed found field photograph (1960’s) from Snappy Snaps albumIn Prehistoric Landscapes i, reframed found field photograph (1950’s) from Snappy Snaps albumIn Prehistoric Landscapes ii, reframed found field photograph (1950’s) from Snappy Snaps albumCabinet (from End of Time Finds) with content including a Kodak negatives wallet, 1936 coronation matchbox, drawing of hand holding pipe.
BORDERLAND is an ongoing piece that began in 2019 with a small vitrine display at the Wessex Gallery, Salisbury Museum, a celebration of my late father’s archaeological practice comprising my own readings of his practice (informal fieldwork photographs, slides, maps, drawings etc), the finds I made while itemising the work he left. A later exhibition (2021) drew on the same items and incorporated others (Can We Ever Know the Meaning of these Objects?, Gallery 46, London).
A key element for both installations was the soundscape, comprising field recordings made over time in the prehistoric landscape of Bokerley Dyke, which has since prehistory created the border between Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset.Recordings by Eleanor Bowen and Philip Mill, edited by Philip Mill.
