Therefore, the surface of this land, inhabited by man, and covered with plants and animals, is made by nature to decay...
James Hutton, A Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe, Vol. I, 1788
Often, all that stands between us and what we have come to call nature is a pane of glass. This work responds to the environments of people who live close to the earth, sometimes highlighting the often fine margins between inside and out, and the tensions which can exist in and with the structures built in these locations.
Hutton’s text, a foundation of modern geology, is one that I return to often. Somehow I find decay, or its acceptance, to be heightened in those places where people try to work the land or live with respect for it. Poet Wendy Mulford articulated this for me when she wrote that “The condition of paradise is loss”.* I think there is something about living close to cycles of growth and decay that demands recognition of that.
