The video installation South by Southwest was developed during an extended stay in the Lake District. It was exhibited alongside the photographic installation of the un-hatched eggs of the last pair of golden eagles in England.

Click here to view the video work on Vimeo

The work traces the movements of the eagles using the notes of bird watcher and author of Call of the Eagle, Dave Walker. Walker was employed by the RSPB from 1979 to study the pair and protect them from disturbance. Initially the male moved to the lake district to cohabit with the female bird and they tried to procreate repeatedly, without success, until the female passed away in 2008. The male, now left behind, continued to build nests of ever increasing size and to perform the eagle’s sky dance to attract a new mate. At the time of filming Walker had been tracking the birds for over 30 years.

Walker’s words, readings from his meticulous tracking notes, rethink the picturesque  

landscape of the Lake District by superimposing eagle-defined coordinates over the territory. They propose a new kind of mapping of this landscape, where human and non-human living spaces come together in mixed arrangement of knowledge and ecology. The work proposes a world of relations, abstractions and spaces where the eagles' movements replace human coordinates. The shots of the eagles' territory are intersected with shots from Walker’s living room, a testimony to his 30 year relationship with the bird.

The video was developed in collaboration with the Cumbria Museum Consortium and funded through a New Expressions Commission: an Arts Council England National pathfinder programme that fosters collaboration between contemporary artists and museums.

Please follow the link below for an Interview about the projects produced in the context of the New Expressions Commissions:

Click here to view the interview