What do we actually mean when we say landscape? How might we come to terms with its forms and materialities? What are the dynamics of the ceaseless interactions that take place between landscape’s constituents? And, arising from the relations that cultivate the ongoing formation of the landscape, what is the nature of the being of the constituents in those processes? How does landscape relate to ideas of nation and identity?
This project addresses these kinds of questions and landscape as the central research object, by considering Scottish and Swedish nonfiction, archival films and footage from the period c.1930-1950. Drawing upon the work of geographers–such as John Wylie, Mitch Rose, Tim Cresswell, Paul Harrison and Hayden Lorimer–, the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, and the work of other scholars–such as Tim Ingold, Chris Tilley and Daniel Miller–landscape is conceptualised as a dynamic complex of material being, dwelling and becoming. It is from this point of view that landscape is approached in these archival films, which feeds into broader questions of how landscape was articulated through film by citizens and how viewers were formed as national citizens through such films.
Richard Evans | Exploring Landscape: Nonfiction Geographies from Scotland and Sweden
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Richard holds an MA in Film Studies from UCL. He is a research student in the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies and sub-edits for Dandelion. Along with Jessica Borge, he was the co-winner of the Hub-sponsored Student Competition, with Holding Things in Common.
