Harrowed Ground is an exploration into the obsession with owning private property, and its damaging effects on the world from an environmentalist and humanist standpoint, and how these effects have the ability to drastically change the reality and nature of the world we inhabit. 

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In a country so vast it is strange how some amass land with the intention to buffer themselves from the outside world, while others, often large corporations, hoard land to build pipelines, dig for oil, or otherwise poorly develop in any way that will make them money. Rather than allowing the people who live on the land to experience the triumphs, tranquilities, and wisdoms of nature, our present system of ownership would rather restrict, ban, build walls, and post “no trespassing” signs. Other countries, many in northern Europe, have combatted this with laws protecting out "Right to Roam," however these are under threat of repeal in the UK. 

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This idea of ownership extends from the geographical, physical realm into the virtual world in the form of exclusive content, paywalls, and other barriers that keep us from fully experiencing the knowledge of the World Wide Web which was originally created to spread and democratize information. 

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But what if we lived in a world where our Right to Roam was acknowledged? What if we could celebrate and learn from the land we inhabit, while respecting the homes and lives of others in our community?

 

Music: Samples taken from Suzanne Sundfor’s “Mountaineers” a song about the beauty of the earth and its perversion.