Inhabiting
Edgelands
Edgelands are transitional patches of land between urban and rural landscapes that are often overlooked. They are separate from the urban power structures and arguably a free space of expression and adventure. They are fluid landscapes that react to different seasons and the state of the economic climate with a changing rugged aesthetic.
Graffiti, litter and dog waste bags decorate the Edgelands. These traces are associated with the people who have a practical relationship with the landscape. Bark’s work in the edgelands, like many other edgelands studies, demonstrates a separation between an aesthetic tourist and the edgelands local. Many people use the edgelands for a practical use – to live, to work or to escape. This relationship between tourist and local, psychogeography and territory, is in constant conflict in his recent work.
