(In)Visible Boundaries: Lochaber Observatories.
Approximately 85% of Lochaber is owned by private entities. As a result of lenient policies regarding land ownership, owners have exploited the land for its natural resources, engaging in activities which disrupt the area’s biodiversity (sporting and felling trees). The project allows visitors to engage and observe the ecological degradation.
The project uses the unowned and uninhabited areas of Lochaber. The excavation of land and the re-use of the soil creates a trench-like intervention, highlighting the political nature of land ownership and the idea of conflict. Whilst the form displays a physical representation of boundaries and the absurdities of boundary-making.
The journey through the site offers exploration and connection with the land as one moves through and engages with the varying heights, allowing them to look over the expansive land and observe the negative effects currently imposed. In an act to reclaim agency of the land, visitors are transformed from passive observers to proactive stewards of the land as they engage with planting and regrowth to help contribute to the recovery of the biodiversity of the area.
The intervention in the land provides an experience both restorative and reflective of the landscape. Engaging with the inherent beauty of the Scottish Highlands, and to better understand the fragility of the landscape and nature within the current climate emergency.
