Looking Down Danger Nose

indykid: 19th Apr 2006 - 15:49 GMT

Ahh...Dungeness, close to home. I'm from just up the road in Ashford, currently at uni in Plymouth though. There was an interesting article in Dazed and Confused last month in which they called Romney Marsh (the area in which Dungeness it situated) the Uk's only desert. I assume, as the area is all reclaimed marshland that this is a reference to the desolate, isolated feel to the area rather than it's actual environmental status. But a desert is a great way to caputre the eerie feel to this place.

indykid: 19th Apr 2006 - 16:09 GMT

One of the most visited places on the Marsh is Prospect Cottage:

"Derek Jarman was drawn to Dungeness by its desolate character; he used it as the setting for his film The Last of England, an allegory on the social and sexual inequalities in England under Thatcherism. Later that year he was diagnosed as HIV positive, and while his public life became increasingly dedicated to gay rights issues, he devoted his private life to the creation of a garden at Prospect Cottage, a fisherman’s house on a huge bank of shingle on the Kent coast..."

Read more at: http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artofthegarden/artistsgardens_jarman.htm

an_impossible_child: 19th Apr 2006 - 16:54 GMT

aw thats my most favourite place in the whole of england! (admittedly havent seen much but it has the desolateness/emptyness which i realy really like)

its like a canvas

elaine: 19th Apr 2006 - 17:18 GMT

yeah, indykid, not only a re they wrong about the desert-ness except in feel, but ecologically it is the opposite of desertified. not only is not not stripped of life, but it's ecodiversity is unparalelled anywhere else in the uk, and stuff grows there that grows nowhere else.

kc: 20th Apr 2006 - 12:40 GMT

sure doesn't feel like a desert in the photos...not that probably even deserts do....but anyway, they're beautiful...

elaine: 20th Apr 2006 - 13:32 GMT

some deserts have life and therefore plant infrastructure of their own - like cactii and stuff, but others that have been caused by deforestation are dead. in scotland there was a great deal of deforestation after the residents were killed or shipped off, to facilitate the hunting park that it has become. being windy, once you get rid of trees in general, there is less shelter for a tree to grow and nothing for the roots to grab onto. i heard that there is a programme of planting bluebells there, to create a nice grabby place for tree roots. you can tell i'm an expert!

Bill: 30th Apr 2006 - 15:40 GMT

elaine,I have been looking at some off your articles most of your photos are of the ground?Look up an see sporktastic

aer suzuki: 23rd Sep 2006 - 21:46 GMT

sporks don't grow on trees, bill. i think these are cool photos, there's a theme running along and the spork makes a nice exclamation point.