From expansive forests to imprisoned arenas, virtual worlds and domestic borders, land is a term malleable and applicable to a multitude of conditions, dependent on who or what is defining it.
When the phrase is approached critically in conversation, crucial yet prevalent categories tend to take lead, such as land-use, management, ownership, and economy. A comfortable space for debate and discussion is created when land is discussed through these lenses, a space that can unknowingly slip into an echo chamber.
Hosted in -ism’s native Glasgow, COP26 reflected this tendency. The annual event, held to develop global agreements for the climate emergency, reconfirmed the polarising distance between the pedestal from which reigning narratives around land are voiced, and those who are most affected by ongoing ecocide. Key indigenous communities remained underrepresented, whilst politicians and oligarchy arrived at the event on carbon-polluted private jets. An awareness of these circumstances motivated the theme for this issue, where -ism sought to expand and explore further definitions, interpretations, and approaches to Land.
Providing non-material perspectives of the theme, Sam Stair queries reality and place in online realms, forcing us to assess our positions as mutual exchangers of universal energies in his philosophical preamble (p.40). Catalysed by rising temperatures and politically driven acts of rebellion, Sofia Kouni shares, through her interviews, first-hand experiences of the devastating wildfires in Evia, Greece (p.68). Proving the efficacy and power of community effort and engagement, Runda Aduldejcharas’ PhD project in Thailand reminds us of the potentials for innovative building and construction techniques found in our immediate natural environments (p.86).
Echoing this sustainable innovation is our cover artist Jess Holdengarde in our interview with her, where she expands on her ecologically conscious practice as a photographer and artist working in a variety of environments (p.44). Tracing personal identity through ancestral migration across continents, Sheena B. Patel provides us the resilient bond between people and their abstract homelands, perpetuated through community support.
As always, in continued encouragement of the written word, we thank all our contributors for taking the time to respond to our theme and provide our readers with reflective and explorative submissions.