Emma Defty

Peatland Kinship Through Public Making

Scotland's peatlands cover almost a quarter of the country's land. However, 80% are degraded and releasing carbon, contributing around 20% of Scotland's carbon emissions, on par with the transport sector. Although restoring these fragile landscapes is essential for climate action, they are often remote, easily damaged, and difficult to experience without causing further disturbance. 

This project explores how people might develop a sense of connection to peatlands without physically visiting them—a concept I describe as non-proximal encounter. Working in collaboration with the Crichton Carbon Centre in Dumfries and Galloway, I use felted sheep fleece left over from peatland restoration research to create a woven work that echoes peat's slow accumulation of around 1 mm each year. The finished textile will form the backdrop for a dance performance by choreographer Kerry Morris: https://glenkens.scot/community-events/land-notes-festival-moving-over-time 

Together, the making, performance, and conversations generated through the project explore how artistic practice can foster attention, care, and connection to peatlands from a distance. 

Why Weaving?

Peatlands form through countless tiny accumulations over thousands of years. Weaving is similarly built through slow, repetitive acts that gradually become something larger than the individual gesture.

I experimented with how the sheep fleece might translate the ecological processes of peatland formation. Using various weaving techniques on my peg loom, I investigate how making might communicate the slow temporalities of peatland and capture some of their physical attributes (texture, stata, & direction).