Fractured Landscapes
Fractured Landscapes is a piece reflecting on the idea of searching for a sense of place or belonging within a landscape. Part of an ongoing project, this work explores the aspects of the Irish landscape that give people a sense of identity and connection. Since April 2017 myself and Carl Lange have been walking all of the National Waymarked Trails of Ireland, a network of hiking trails spanning 4,000km across the country.
Connections are often made between walking and our understanding of the world, and in her writing, Rebecca Solnit discusses these connections:
“Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do. It’s best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking … I suspect that the mind, much like the feet, works at about three miles an hour. If this is so, then modern life is moving faster than the speed of thought, or thoughtfulness … Exploring the world is one of the best ways of exploring the mind, and walking travels both terrains.” [1]
How we think about places and cultures impacts our walking. An ‘imagined geography’ looks at people’s perceptions and ideas about a specific place, as opposed to its literal and physical attributes. With photography I want to look at how space and place is perceived through images. Fractured Landscapes is a reflection of my feelings of disconnect while searching for an imagined sense of place.
Ellie Berry is a photographer and writer. She and Carl Lange are currently walking 4,000km around, and will hopefully become the first people to have walked every National Waymarked Trail. You can follow this walking project at toughsoles.ie
Words: Ellie Berry
[1] Solnit, Rebecca. Wanderlust: A History of Walking. New York: Viking, 2000.
