België contra la France, 2017
Coming from Australia I have a totally different sense of scale when it comes to the landscape. In Australia it is monumental, and there are vast areas that have probably always been untouched by humans. Europe, in contrast, exists on an entirely human scale. Where Australia is wild and unconquered, Europe has been tamed by the millions of inhabitants who have traversed and colonised its spaces, ripped up its forests for farmland, constructed canals to irrigate, and built villages and cities in advantageous locations. All this forms a huge, complex network where the very history of Europe is mapped out on its land.
In another contrast to Australia, Europe is filled with borders that delineate cultural differences. The borders, which may once have been decided quite arbitrarily, have become symbolic barriers that separate one culture from another. Even decades after the establishment of the Schengen agreement and the end of official borders in Europe, these lines still remain and divide.
I decided to walk along a section of the French and Belgian border. Here the border changes from following natural landmarks, such as rivers, to man-made ones such as canals or roads. Sometimes the line I walked along seemed like it was totally randomly prescribed. While the roads, architecture and the landscape all looked the same, what became clear to me as I walked along the border was that to the south of me the culture was entirely French, and yet to the north the culture was totally Flemish. My body became a moving line that mapped a cultural divide.
Coming from Australia I have a totally different sense of scale when it comes to the landscape. In Australia it is monumental, and there are vast areas that have probably always been untouched by humans. Europe, in contrast, exists on an entirely human scale. Where Australia is wild and unconquered, Europe has been tamed by the millions of inhabitants who have traversed and colonised its spaces, ripped up its forests for farmland, constructed canals to irrigate, and built villages and cities in advantageous locations. All this forms a huge, complex network where the very history of Europe is mapped out on its land.
In another contrast to Australia, Europe is filled with borders that delineate cultural differences. The borders, which may once have been decided quite arbitrarily, have become symbolic barriers that separate one culture from another. Even decades after the establishment of the Schengen agreement and the end of official borders in Europe, these lines still remain and divide.
I decided to walk along a section of the French and Belgian border. Here the border changes from following natural landmarks, such as rivers, to man-made ones such as canals or roads. Sometimes the line I walked along seemed like it was totally randomly prescribed. While the roads, architecture and the landscape all looked the same, what became clear to me as I walked along the border was that to the south of me the culture was entirely French, and yet to the north the culture was totally Flemish. My body became a moving line that mapped a cultural divide.