Transmerge Performance 5.45am 27th June - 10.30pm 28th June 2008

The People of the Hope Valley Line

The symbolic name of Hope Valley is known to all, and the place and landscape of the hope in man and woman is both a deeply personal experience, and sometimes a lonely experience for all who have had, and do have hope. Hope being such an essential aspect of human nature that sets us aside from all other living things as far as we know, although deeply personal and often lonely in its privacy it is a collective experience. We often have shared hope for our lands and people, and individually we have our own personal and private hopes that can be harder to communicate between one another; but both collectively and individually hope also carries its direct opposite, despair.

There are some people and experiences that I thought of during Transmerge that are personal and private to myself, at the same time as thinking of the collective people and the history of each location, of the collective personal and private journeys we all make, and the more global and historical journeys and lands of mass peoples.

However there are a few specific people and experiences in this literal Hope Valley and in this literal act of Transmerge, that need to be recognised and noted :- (in order of memory)

Brinnington : After my initial visit to Brinnington I became very quickly aware that my presence there as an outsider was cause for great concern to the local people, and I found their concern to be quite threatening. Brinnington had become my despair in the literal Hope Valley Line; I had no disrespect for the people there, but knew they would find it very difficult to accept a woman/man digging a hole on their land. I briefly questioned missing Brinnington out , fearing for my own personal safety, but decided that to do so would be wrong, and would go against the meaning of both Transmerge, and the Hope Valley Line, and therefore I had no option but to do it. Performing in Brinnington was certainly a challenge for myself, and for Julian to try and photograph, but with all gratitude to the people I was tolerated despite that none of the adults who questioned me could even begin to understand, and despite that they very assertively disapproved and saw me as an intruder. In such conditions of my intruding onto their land, which belongs to a people who have very little concept of art, who are not used to seeing strangers in their land (Brinnington is geographically a small island surrounded by a train track, a motorway and a river) considering this the people of Brinnington were very tolerant of Transmerge for which I am most greatly thankful for, and have much respect for their acceptance.

The children in Brinnington however did come to some understanding and they helped me to re-fill the hole with the earth from Bredbury; throughout the performance the innocent eyes of children had become very significant. Two children in Edale questioned their mother as to what I was doing, their mother understandably could not answer and ushered the children away; the childrens innocent eyes were curious, un-threatened and non-judgmental, to their eyes Transmerge was purely intriguing.

Manchester: I would like to thank the woman who said "are you okay? do you want me to take you home and look after you?". I spoke with the woman and her daughter after re-filling the hole with Brinnington's earth, and the mother explained to her daughter that - "she's just doing what she feels she needs to do". I am thankful for her caring nature and developed enthusiasm despite finding it difficult to understand .

People are effected by the land that surrounds them, and from my personal perspective when the landscape turns into desolation and isolated concrete, then the people of that land despair; and when I'm symbolically in hope valley, and when I hit the symbolic landscape of despair, I too despair, but the tolerance and kindness of peoples acceptance still makes its mark, literally in the performance of Transmerge and in the symbolic landscapes of our inner experiences of hope valley.

Chinley: I was also a little concerned about performing at the chosen site in Chinley, and am grateful to the train driver for recognising my personal common sense and wish to cause no harm.

Just as people are effected by their landscape, we are also effected by the rules and regulations that are put upon that landscape, the rules can make it so that an innocent man doing his job has to shout at an innocent artist doing hers. Symbolically, from my experience, this can also happen to us personally with the rules and regulations that we put upon our inner selves, rules about how we should be, rules that can cause us internal conflict between what we know to be true to ourselves, and what we think society or authority expects of us.

Hathersage: Prior to the performance whilst site searching I had unknowingly wondered into someones back garden in Hathersage, it was here that I started to realise exactly how much I would be crossing boundaries. During the performance of Transmerge I passed three men chatting in the lane, and a man pushing a big trolley of farming goods, whom I felt a curious combination of affinity and estrangement with as I walked down a road surrounded by their private land.

Marple: I had in mind that it would be appropriate to Transmerge in the context of a graveyard whilst I was site searching in preparation for performing, and fortunately found Marple to have a graveyard next to the train station, where its community and gardener were simultaneously mused and understanding.

Bredbury: As I approached the site in Bredbury two lovers sat on the park bench, I decided not to go too close to them, in hope that I would not disturb them, but they moved along to the next bench and sat at a more comfortable distance, for which I am sorry for their discomfort and felt need to move away, but glad they chose the next bench along. I'm also glad for the boy who subtly kicked his football over to the earth hole after I'd finished to have a little curious peek at it, and to his father who said "hello" as I left, and the teenage girl who complimented my trowel accessory.

New Mills Central: Here I pay homage to the people who used to work in the mill before it was closed down, and to two teenage boys I met when I chose the site prior to the performance, who said in response to the landscape and site - "It's mythical".

I am also grateful for my internal private moments, that rest deeply in the meaning of Transmerge and The Hope Valley Line, that are conveyed by imagery and act only, that are private to me and the earth, just as your private moments are to you and all the private moments of people of the Hope Valley Line.

The earth, the motion of change , the people, and the landscape in bodily experience, the journey itself in all its aspects is home.

"Paths and places, expressionless faces, framed in time, confused by directions, subject to regulations, each choose your line, but there's no pressing obligations, observe your inclination toward whatever destination, this is your passage through time."

(Engraving on public art work at Manchester site)

I will re-visit the sites and document the earth exchanges over time.

Special thanks to Julian Hughes for his sensitivity, and to Mark Doyle for setting up camp.

Digging

'Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.

Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it.'

Seamus Heaney

(Suitcase and cloths adapted for Transmerge by the artist)

Train Times

-------27/06/08-------

Sheffield start at 5:45 am-------Depart Sheffield at 7:14am---

Arrive Dore at 7:21-------Depart Dore at 9:21---

Arrive Gindleford at 9:29 -------Depart Grindleford at 12:29---

Arrive Hathersage at 12:32 pm-------Depart Hathersage at 14:32---

Arrive Bamford at 14:36------- Depart Bamford at 16:36---

Arrive Hope at 16:39------- Depart Hope at 19:39---

Arrive Edale at 19:47pm -------

-------Depart Edale at 6:55am------- 28/06/08---

Arrive Chinley at 7:03 am-------Depart Chinley at 8:55---

Arrive New Mills Central at 9:01-------Depart New Mills at 12:01---

Arrive Strines at 12:04------Depart Strines at 14:07---

Arrive Marple at 14:09-------Depart Marple at 16:07---

Arrive Bredbury at 16:14-------Depart Bredbury at 18:14---

Arrive Brinnington at 18:16-------Depart Brinnington at 19:16---

Arrive Manchester at 19:33-------Depart Manchester at 20:46---

Arrive Sheffield at 22:04-------End Sheffield 11: 00---

Sites - Hope Valley Line

14. Manchester

13. Brinnington

12. Bredbury

11. Marple

10. Strines

9. New Mills Central

8. Chinley

7. Edale

6. Hope

5. Bamford

4. Hathersage

3. Grindleford

2. Dore

1. Sheffield

Diary 7th May - 6th June 2008

7th May 2008 - First dig experiment, and imagery trial.
Sketch book photos and title photo - Becky Bowley.



9th May 2008 -

When I first had this idea I wondered about reversing the process, so that I would replace all the earth back into it's original earth, leaving the land as it was. This has come back up for me today, as the meaning of the ritual is deepening and becoming clearer to me.

From the beginning I have been aware of it's absurdity, that true peacefulness between lands, countries and people is in the acceptance of the differences, the embrace of individuality, and the embrace of things just as they are, without trying to contrive, or control. The Performance is reminding me of, in part, trade of goods between countries, which causes many problems in the world - including the effect on the environment through transportation.

I'm also aware of the absurdity, of merging the land, when in reality it already is merged, it is in harmony, it works best by itself, it is perfect and whole and peaceful just as it is, and all too often it is the desires of mans control that disturb it's harmony. But in contemplating this I contemplate how nature and humanity do and can work and play together harmoniously, each as sacred as the other and without separation.

There are some questions in ritual and performative acts that can't be answered until it is taking place, until the communication between materials, imagery and body are engaged in that moment. So the question for me, as whether to reverse the process, leaving the land in it's original places, can't be answered yet, but I am beginning to feel that the earth understands the performance and is embracing it, and I shall let that engagement speak for itself.

"And so I write a tragedy about how a blade of grass becomes more and more difficult to offer. And about how as you grow older A blade of grass becomes more difficult to accept." Nasz - The Gift.


11th May 2008 -

Yesterday I spent the day looking for some of the sites along The Hope Valley Line. Some things came to mind whilst hoping on and off the train and choosing sites that spoke to me, I had an increasing sense of vulnerability about the performance and couldn't help think of refugees, who are forced to leave their homes and land, but the necessity to move on from something we love happens on many levels, for whole groups of people and for the individual.

The land and the soil are becoming representative to the lives and history of the world to me, because the earth has seen it all, the earth knows all of our experiences, and holds our lives in its beauty without judgement.

My sense of homelessness whilst looking for meaningful places to pass through also lead me to think of nomads, and travellers, travelling by train from place to place, living the meaning of transience and embracing it's poetry.

6th June 2008 -

I have completed the site search for the performance of Transmerge and I'm getting to know Hope Valley and the Hope Valley Line more intimately.

Transmerge has been unfolding in front of me with every train stop along the way to Manchester, the chosen sites have been perfect finds for the performance, and surprisingly immediate to select, the landscape of Hope Valley has been very directive, and has been communicating the meaning of Transmerge to me, and the meaning of being in Hope Valley.

I'd unconsciously developed a system of looking at the landscape passing on the train, and walking around the immediate area to see what the site was saying, with a rule of looking at it's immediacy, and not wondering away too far just to find a spot where it would be nice to be in and easy to perform at, if the landscape and site spoke in a difficult way, or was uncomfortable to be in, I didn't want to avoid what it was communicating to Transmerge. Keeping to this initially unconscious system helped me to keep to a truth of the meaning of Transmerge, and Hope Valley, and helped me to just let it unfold.

Along side the landscape and the train route the people on the train and on the sites have become an increasing integral part of Tranmerge, people leaving cities to walk in nature, people leaving there villages to go out on the town at night, lovers parting and uniting, trainspotters, nature photographers, and people unravelling their stories to each other along the journey, or stopping to pray, or just watching everything pass by.

As the landscape changes along the Hope Valley Line, so do it's people, as trees turn into concrete, as small villages turn into estates, and then into cities.

Transmerge - Introduction - 7th May

Becky Bowley will take the train from Sheffield to Manchester. In Sheffield she will dig a hole and take the earth to the next stop, Dore, where she will then dig another hole and fill that hole with the earth from Sheffield, she will then take the earth from Dore to Grindleford where she will then dig another hole, and fill that hole with the earth from Grindleford, and this process will continue along the Transpennine train route until she reaches Manchester and then goes back to Sheffield to fill the original hole with the earth from Manchester.

Transmerge is a ritual that communicates an artistic desire to merge body and land for creative peaceful purposes without boundaries of ownership. Prehistorically land and rock art may have been used to define boundaries, and ownership of the land to certain ‘tribes’ and to indicate their beliefs and rituals. These boundaries of land and people continue today causing global and personal conflict between individuals. Land and people are separated by differences that can be transformed into a merger of unique parts at peace with each other, which is ritualised in the performance of Transmerge.

The performance will be two days long and take place on the 27th and 28th of June, Becky will work closely with arts photographer Julian Hughes to document the performance. The photographs will be exhibited alongside a diary of the process and mapping of exchanged earth holes at on this site where details of times, and stops will follow shortly …..

http://www.beckybowley.com/

http://www.julianhughesphotography.blogspot.com/