Limited space or limited accessibility?
My project began investigating adaptability in limited spaces and evolved into looking at our human obsession with ownership, specifically in the context of land. I looked into the historic roots of privatization and became deeply intrigued by the ideology of stewardship; an agricultural system whereby common people have jointly rights and access to an area of land. This system was used by our predecessors prior to a series of Enclosement Acts which favoured the wealthy, redistributing land in their favour and, at least in part, contributing to current social polarisation in the 21st century.
In response to this research, I designed a fold-out publication which aims to communicate the conflicting ideologies of ownership and stewardship in the context of land accessibility. It begins in Act 1, using diagrams, captions and found imagery to physicalise the limited accessibility that comes with ownership and privatisation, before moving onto Act 2 where the same techniques are used to reflect the concept of stewardship; it’s promotion of accessibility and community.
Within the publication a phrase is repeated,
‘if we should all become the commoner and share more, we will all become the commoner who has more’.
It reflects another intention of my publication, being to redefine ‘the commoner’ more positively than its current connotations, as a person who has equal rights over land with others; something which should be encouraged in a world of restricted access and privatisation.
In a world of increasingly limited space, stewardship increases accessibility and community. Look for the common ground; become the commoner who has more.