gorse

The gorse was encroaching on the walk, narrowing the way and creating a worn path near Black Cart Turret. It had to be removed. The Northumberland National Park rangers and volunteers came early with hacksaws and loppers. They had been working together for years and had an ease of banter, a lightness of being which would help as the work was heavy. Sawing the gorse bushes one by one then hauling each to the side. They paid no mind to the thorns or the unrelenting sun – they worked for hours until the job was done.

Some of the images of the work done will be featured in an intervention in Chesters Museum June 20th through September 13th.

Miles away, in my studio, my assistant and I set about the task of preparing the gorse for my archive. We cut each branch numbering the sections as we went. Each section was labeled, placed in a perforated plastic bag then into the airtight box with silica gel to remove excess humidity. This is the way Roman finds are conserved by English Heritage. The gorse is now held in stasis in my archive which will be displayed from June 20 through September 14 at Birdoswald Roman Museum.

I made a cyanotype record of the gorse as I have done with all that I have collected. The cyanotypes will be displayed with unintentional photograms from Chesters Museum at Vane Gallery from June 20th until July 25th.