SITTING - Scots Dike. (Scotland at my toes, England at the tips of my fingers)

10am – 5pm
31st January 2020
Scots’ Dike, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland / England

Programmed as part of the 'Practising Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation' Exhibition, The Lighthouse, Glasgow.

On 31st January, coinciding with Brexit day, I marked what was Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland’s last day in the European Union, by sitting on the Scottish / English border at Scots’ Dike. Scots’ Dike is a three and a half mile long, low, interrupted earth ditch, constructed by the Scots and English in 1552 to mark the division of the Debatable Lands and to define a section of the border between Scotland and England. The significance of the day and the history of the ditch/dike made it an important and critical context within which to undertake this 7hour performance.

The resulting photographic work titled: 'SCOTLAND AT MY TOES, ENGLAND AT THE TIPS OF MY FINGERS, Scots’ Dike, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland / England' was made for and shown in the exhibition Practising Landscape at the Lighthouse, Glasgow.

SITTING is an ongoing series of actions created for and in response to specific locations on the edges of Europe; places with complicated historical, geographic and political landscape identities.

There are currently 3 Sittings in the SITTING Series:

1. SITTING – Agios Sozomenos, Cyprus, 33°3’57”N 33°26’18”E
The deserted village of Agios Sozomenos is 30km east of Nicosia in Cyprus. Until 1964, the village was mixed, inhabited by Greek and Turkish Cypriots, but the last residents fled during the 1974 conflict and were displaced to nearby villages. The UN controlled Green Line, which divides the north and south of the island, runs along the edge of the village and a UN look out post situated on this line was my point of focus throughout the Sitting.

2. SITTING – Telavag, Norway, 60°15’46”N 04°59’11”E
Telavag is a fishing village situated on the very west coast of Norway. The village was deleted from maps during World War II by German occupation forces and subsequently rebuilt by surviving families who returned following the end of the war. The small hill from where villagers were taken, on 30th April 1942, to watch the burning of their homes was my point of focus throughout.

3. SCOTLAND AT MY TOES, ENGLAND AT THE TIPS OF MY FINGERS , Scots’ Dike, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland / England, NY 3307 7367 NY 3872 7319