Out of Bounds
The structure was made in collaboration with master local hedgelayer Trefor Prothero and a supporting artist film of the ceremonies accompanies the sculptural work.
Hedgerows are created by ‘pleaching’ live plants, an act of cutting partway through the stem and ‘laying’ them to grow sideways. Hedges were the original system used to enclose the commons. With this seemingly violent manipulation of natural systems, the leafless hedgerow incarnates the severity of borders. Yet, crucially represents the profound fertility of species, cultures and customs when two spaces intersect.
What appears to be an austere and unalive barrier, instead represents an interconnected web of people and places, where natural systems have overridden what was once intended to divide them.
Commissioned by Meadow Arts for the BorderLands exhibition in Hay Castle 2026.