Part Two, continued from yesterday.
At each location I gathered something that grew there in abundance; that seemed to characterise that place. Luckily I was able to find something different for each … and then, at the next place I made a four-letter word using the plant material. Each word would have some relevance to the place where I found myself or how I was feeling at that moment. So, like last year's action where I took earth or water from one crossing-point and tipped it out at the next, it made a strong link around the boundary. I found after the first day that I wasn't convinced that this idea was really working, but kept going with it as it's probably better to judge its validity later on. Even if it doesn't work as 14 photographs forming a 'boundary', some of the individual ones are quite nice I think. Others feel somewhat contrived – sometimes it was difficult to find an appropriate word with just four letters in it.
Thinking more about words, I decided to do something with runes. This is very pertinent to Norfolk as an eastern county. It's often forgotten how strong the Scandinavian/Germanic heritage would still have been – both in place names and probably something more intangible – in medieval times. So, at each crossing-place I drew a rune marked on a stone from a special bag, and placed it on the puddle of beer in a seemingly-significant ritual action. Then I scratched the same rune in the earth of that place.
Lots to do at each crossing-point; lots of scrabbling about in bicycle panniers for the equipment; cold fingers yesterday that eventually rebelled, but on reflection it was worth it, definitely. It both feels like the end and not the end at all, as there is A LOT to do to actually make something of all the stuff I've collected along the way. Not to mention a final edition of Kalender.
imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk
