Tout Quarry Sculpture Park and Nature Reserve-‘Ab Initio’
One Island - Many Visions is a Portland Sculpture & Quarry Trust collaboration with the Royal Society of Sculptors, involving 27 artists’ residencies, and research outcomes over 18 months, resulting in the exhibition, symposium and community events running from 6th September to 31st October 2025.
Royal Society of Sculptors members have worked collaboratively with PSQT Living Land Archive Project for the regeneration of quarry landscapes alongside members of the Portland community.
My work - Ab Initio - is located in Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve and aligns with the interdisciplinary project led by Portland Sculpture & Quarry Trust for the regeneration of landscape. It is created in collaboration with the Dorset Dry Stone Walling Association, Hannah Sofaer MA(RCA) Creative Director of PSQT, Bob Ford local Naturalist and Ros Burgin MRSS. Ab Initio—Latin for “from the beginning” signifies a return to origin. It evokes a reconnection with foundational principles of place, ecology, and the traditional skills of dry-stone walling.
The artwork draws on dry-stone walling not to divide space, but to create a space that supports biodiversity, promotes ecological awareness, and invites reflection on how we might develop a more connected relationship with the landscape. Ab Initio is more than a structure; it suggests a reset, a renewal of ways of thinking. It marks the beginning of a new synergy, where stonecraft, ecology and contemporary environmental practice converge.
Ab Initio will be built on the 8th,9th, 10th, 11th as an event during the show.
60 x 550 x 45 cm, 2025
