Landscape of Relations
2024 A project that analyses the current socio-ecological role of sheep in the regeneration of ecosystems in Dutch flatlands. It takes a form of a map and signs placed in the landscape, that can be found on publicly accessible walking routes on Strabrechtse Heide. The aim is to raise awareness of the resources and planning required to upkeep the seemingly “natural” domesticated areas using sheep. The content of the map includes voices of shepherds, ecologists and lawmakers in order to paint a rich image of the ever changing, ever moving animal and its importance in the context of the Netherlands.
What are now known as nature reserves, have been carefully regenerated using choreographed movements of sheep and their superior grazing capabilities that invite biodiversity and abundance.
The map draws out the many more elements and actors accompanying the grazers and their roles within the heathland, encouraging treating them as one big organism working together, highlighting their critical interdependencies. The project portrays heathlands as a holistic network rather than isolated patches and shows how the human and non-human work together on the border between nature and culture.
ecosystem, research, infrastructure