Unto the Hills
Inspired by the ‘working landscape’ of my native Lake District, this project draws on ‘heritage’ skills to create artefacts for a uniquely ‘Cumbrian’ burial ground
The world is facing a climate crisis. Across all industries, and in all aspects of life, massive change is needed to avoid irreversible levels of ‘climate breakdown’. This is certainly true in my home region of Cumbria, where recent unprecedented climate events, such as storm Arwen in November 2021, have had a big impact on rural communities, especially those who depend on the ‘working landscape’ for their livelihoods. Spurred on by the impact of Arwen, an unlikely cohort of ‘activists’, including farmers, foresters and craftspeople, have found themselves on the front line for climate action.
This project has been built from the ‘ground up’, literally cycling hundreds of miles through the Cumbrian winter, autumn and spring to collaborate with an inspirational network of practitioners across woodlands, workshops and farmyards, who have helped me redefine what I see as the role of design in a rural economy using the simple principle of ‘staying local’.
Taking this focus on the ‘circle of life’ to its natural conclusion, the focal point for this project is based around the single life stage that will inevitably touch all our lives very deeply – death.
In more ‘physical’ terms, the outcome of the project is based around two artefacts – the burial shroud and bier, both of which are products of the woodland and textile industries, which alongside hill-farming have been the lifeblood of the rural economy for centuries.
Accompanied by a short film showing these ‘heritage skills’, I hope that sharing real stories from Cumbria can lead to more authentic dialogue around the realities of today’s rural landscapes, inspired by the idea of looking back to move forwards, while [re]discovering generations-old ways of working ‘sympathetically’ with the land.
Stan McNulty
untothehills.info
stan.mcnulty@yahoo.co.uk