WASTELAND

WASTELAND is the culmination of a year-long journey at Blackshed — a tapestry of thoughts, materials, impulses, and fleeting moments made tangible. Its origins lie in recent trips, encounters, and compulsions; it seeks to solidify and hold onto these ephemeral moments, however briefly. At its core, WASTELAND is a meeting point, a space for connection with others moving along parallel artistic and creative paths, a moment of shared direction and temporary collaboration. Threads of the project run between the rehabilitation of landscape and the use of discarded matter; from a ‘resilient garden’ festival to a surrealist cabinet of curiosities; from a garage of salvaged wood to post-industrial ruins; from sunburnt European terrain to future fears of how we might feed ourselves atop a crust of calcifying waste. These threads have been woven together in this first iteration, shaped by place and by those who have joined in along the way: WASTELAND is a process, alive and open to the future. It has been a privilege to create freely, without much in the way of an agenda, trend, or obstacle, and I’m surprised and deeply grateful for a year that has been so rich and nourishing. Site is always the key to releasing creative energies, and the sunlit woods, turbid pond and changing seasons have fed deeply into the spirit of WASTELAND. But above all it has been the acceptance and generosity of Lorna and Kenton and the team at Blackshed who have enabled this meandering project at every turn to reach fruition. - Sharon Wylde