Hedgerow Hyllie

Hedgerow Hyllie is a collective organism, that like all bodies, is made up of complex interdependent entities that, through their interaction, create a healthy being capable of physically and socially engaging in its community.

One of the oldest man-made landscape interventions, the first hedgerows were planted to enclose land for cereal crops in the Neolithic age, 4000-6000 years ago. Originally property boundaries, hedgerows have come to serve a variety of purposes: from preventing soil loss, reducing pollution, regulating water supply and reducing flooding, to providing shelter from wind for crops, farm animals and people. They are reservoirs of biodiversity, providing habitat for species beneficial to local biomes and supporting the production of biomass as a source of energy.

Hedgerow Hyllie is a snake-like being that winds its way between adjacent fields and gardens. Like a good neighbor, Hedgerow Hyllie helps to buffer the land, the space between local spaces. Hedgerow Hyllie increases the economic diversity of her community by helping build soil, grow niche foods and natural medicinals. A fantastic gardener, Hedgerow Hyllie nurtures rare florals and is kind to local mammals and takes care of beneficial species of insects that eat predatory pests in the field and garden.

Hedgerows have also served as sites of social gathering, political resistance and alternative education. The Irish Hedge school, for instance, emerged in response to the repressive Penal Laws of the 18th century. It was an educational practice that began as an oral tradition of teaching members of a local community gathered around rural hedgerows.

Hedgerow Hyllie communicates with people as they pass by and gather around. A natural storyteller, Hedgerow Hyllie is a warm but slightly grouchy teacher who just can’t stop speaking her mind. Ask Hedgerow Hyllie about picking her fruit and berries, and gathering her seeds. She’ll tell you about her insects, fungi, flowers, bushes and trees, about how she shelters small mammals, provides for birds or even fox, deer and wild boar. Hedgerow Hyllie’s munificence knows no bounds, and she can’t wait to share what she knows with you.
Antonina Simeti, Leonardo Aranda, Marek Walczak & Mark Shepard
USA