Looking at the relationship between the British landscape idyll and the realities of rural.
‘I Think I Could Turn and Live with the Animals’ is an illustrated publication responding to the problems with our romanticised view of the British countryside by shedding light on the realities of rural living. I aim to demonstrate how real grounded-ness can come from developing a new, better informed relationship with the land, rooted more in truth than fantasy. Through my FMP, I explored depictions of the land and agriculture within British folk culture, looking particularly at landscape motifs in Folk horror film, historical agricultural folk art and interviewing those working closely with the land, whom we may call “rural folk culture” of 2023.
Themes explored range from the impact of technological advancement, environmental damage, death and disease, the dangers of romanticisation, the land’s history of conflict, fear of eeriness in the countryside, but also the importance of the natural land to mental health and the land as a liberating/freeing force.
I believe that having access to real perspectives of life in the countryside will not only allow us city folk to consider our actions towards nature with greater consideration and care moving forward, but also allow us to develop a new, mutually giving relationship with the land (including those who inhabit it.) Thus, we can continue to find escape from the city through nature, by embracing what it actually is, rather than what we imagine it to be.
“Some things in their most natural state have the most vivid colours.” – David Rudkin.
Looking at the relationship between the British landscape idyll and the realities of rural.