Diana Terry statement


For me the human presence is the starting point of art. My recent work in a new project called Land Marks inspired by the local quarries and mines in West Yorkshire, drawing on stories of when these sites were part of a primary industry created during the industrial revolution. I compare the physical scars on the natural landscape with their current rewilded state.

It is this rewilding of quarries that fascinates me as I am keen to stimulate conversations on belonging, leading to a greater understanding of who we are and contributing to climate change debate; as some of these rewilded areas are once again under threat from further development.

Land Marks is a show about place and about process. It’s about how where you live gets under your skin and how through returning to craft processes and the rhythms of making we can achieve a greater understanding of who we are. I have been recording the physical scars formed by quarries in the landscape.
This recording has involved photography, drawing, rubbings, clay pressing and any other methods I’ve devised. One of these has been to leave large pieces of 400 gm paper in a quarry for three months at a time. I’ve retrieved spring and summer versions and will get autumn at the end of November when I place winter. I’ll have a seasonal cycle and hope to place them alongside each other. I have high resolution images taken of this experiment so far in order to be able to exhibit them.
Following two years of research, production and collaboration using painting, printmaking and sculpture, I have created a body of work demonstrating how returning to craft and physical making can inform our understanding of place.