Ernest Journal No. 11
In this edition: healing waters in the Westfjords; Java’s volcanic rituals and industry; in conversation with Stanley Donwood; nature and artifice on St Kilda; a new era of bio-design; the allure of pylons; Hvaldmir the Russian spy whale; seeking the wild west in the wild east.
- INVENTORY
William Smith’s geological maps; Steller’s sea cow; the history of lidos; photographing the fluid shapes of starling murmurations; 50 words for snow; the Quiet Parks Project; catching mackerel by handline; ramblers’ soap; natural inks; water monotypes; redesigning ghost wear.
- ECHOES OF THE EIGER
Revisiting his father’s pioneering route up the north face of the Eiger – famous for being one of the world’s hardest rock climbs – Mike MacEacheran ruminates on the power of memory and mountains and why we push ourselves to the ends of the Earth in pursuit of the unknown.
- NATURE & ARTIFICE
Ministry of Defence domes, tanks and radar towers may seem incongruous with the wild and craggy landscape of St Kilda, but as Bethany Rigby discovers, a military presence can often have beneficial consequences for conservation in remote areas.
- WILD EAST, WILD WEST
Trigger fingers at the ready, the sound of a whipcrack ringing in his ears, Nick Hunt seeks traces of the Old West in unlikely corners of Europe.
- A NEW ERA OF BIO-DESIGN
Our material consumption has long been out of control. But could developments in biodesign be part of the solution, bringing us closer to a sci-fi 1960s vision of a sustainable ‘Spaceship Earth’?
- IN WORSHIP OF THE HUM
Pylons have radically transformed our landscapes for almost a century. Gareth E. Rees explores the often-haunting symbolism of the metal monoliths that power our world.
- RIVER OF TIME
Mudlarking on the Thames: eroded by the ebb and flow of the tide, the crumbling banks of the estuary reveal clues to our evolving relationship with waste.
- TECHNICOLOUR CHALKSCAPES
Stanley Donwood is renowned for his Radiohead album covers and folktale drawings of sunken paths in Holloway (2013), but in his latest collection he turns to brash blocks of colour to evoke the rolling chalkscapes of southern England.
- HEALING WATERS IN THE WESTFJORDS
Henry Fletcher explores Iceland’s oldest geological outcrop – known for its runic sorcerers and herbalists, fathomless fjords and weather-beaten mountains, hot pools and cold water surf scene.
- REFLECTIONS ON THE RIVER TEIFI
Jack Smylie Wild meanders to the source of Afon Teifi, weaving keen observation with childhood recollection, while sounding a clarion call to love and protect our waterways.
- OH HELLO, HVALDIMIR
A cetacean spy or therapy whale? Joly Braime gets to know this big-hearted beluga who just wants to be friends with humans.
- A wonderful read