The Crossing Lines group met via Zoom on 7 April. A group of eighteen enjoyed two presentations, both contributors having something about landscape in mind.

First, Anita Strasser talked about her oral history project that documents the social history of the Stone Sea, a mountain range in the Austrian Alps where she grew up and where huge changes are afoot: developments that cater for the consumerist needs of the contemporary mountain tourist threatening the local way of mountain life. The project documents the everyday life and work of mountain folk such as sheep farmers, innkeepers, mountain rescue teams, hunters and others, and is in stark contrast to the existing mountain literature and imagery which celebrates the beauty of the mountains in glossy colour images and the achievements of ‘important’ climbers, engineers and Alpine organisations. Through stories and tales written in the local language documenting the social history since the 1930s and black & white images depicting the ‘working mountain’ and its everyday and local customs, the project shifts the focus onto the experiences of people whose very existence is intertwined with that of the mountain range. A book of the project was published in 2020 Erzählungen aus dem Steinernen Meer (Tales from the Stone Sea, in German). Anita has also recently published the paper ‘The Stone Sea: a walk through mountain research’, which narrates her own experience of walking in the Stone Sea.

Anita Strasser is a photographer currently doing an AHRC-funded PhD in Visual Sociology at Goldsmiths. Images © Anita Strasser

After a short break Andy Day opened the evening’s second section with images from his new haunting and exploratory project. He explains more:
“My wanderings in the forest of Fontainebleau lead me to slightly surreal, inexplicable encounters which I enjoy documenting. Trying to figure out if the resulting photographs had potential and what direction they could take was little more than procrastination until a fellow Crossing Lines member suggested that the work could be worth developing. Presenting at the April meeting was the next step; I’ve always taken to heart John Levett’s principle that the group existed to help unformed ideas take shape.” (John was the founder-convenor of Crossing Lines.) “Simply putting together the presentation was beneficial, never mind the feedback I received afterwards. I finished the session feeling inspired and looking forward to returning in a year or two to give members an update.”
Images © And Day

We hope so too! Crossing Lines convenes online again on the first Wednesday in May and, as always, new members are very welcome. Peter Luck