THE FIELD

“In observation of nature, large and small, I have constantly asked myself the question:  Is it the object or is it myself that speaks here?” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Field is a three-acre, south-facing site in the South Hams near Totnes, Devon. Acquired from filmmaker Rodger Jackman in 2008, it has since been under the stewardship of Shared Habitat.

More than one hundred different species of trees and shrubs have been planted, joining an existing and continually changing population of grasses, wildflowers, hedgerow plants, fungi and other forms of life. Some were already present but unnoticed; others emerged as the conditions of the land changed.

Rather than imposing a human designed landscape upon the site, stewardship has involved observing what happens when deliberate acts of planting and tending coexist with processes beyond human intention. No human dwelling has been built on the land.

Camera-Witnessing

Central to The Field is Stuart J Young’s long-term photographic studies of the plants and flowers that have emerged there. Goldhahn described similar practices as camera-witnessing in her PhD Shared Habitats (2007).

The camera is not simply used to catalogue species or produce botanical photographs. It is a means of sustained inner dialogue and outer attention: returning to the same habitat, noticing what has appeared, what feelings are evoked and attending closely within a changing ecology.

Across seasons and years, the photographs record encounters and make visible changes that can escape ordinary perception: the brief flowering of a species, a plant appearing in a new location, variations in abundance, and the intended and unintended consequences of human stewardship.

Camera-witnessing occupies a space between documentation and participation. The photographer does not stand outside the habitat as a neutral observer. Photographing involves entering the field, moving through it, returning, recognising and becoming familiar with what lives there. Observation takes place from within the habitat being observed.

A Shared Habitat

The name Shared Habitat is literal here. The field is wilderness and garden. Human decisions intersect with processes that exceed human intention. A tree may be planted, but whether and how it flourishes belongs to a larger field of relations: soil, water, weather, insects, birds, neighbouring vegetation and time.

The photographic archive Flowers of the Field has to remain an incomplete inventory. It simply records a continuing act of noticing: by one human witness, Stuart J Young with a camera, encountering the multiple lives taking shape.