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Suraya Raja Suraya spent nearly 3 months based with the English Nature's team responsible for the management of Thorne and Hatfield Moors, near Doncaster (Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve). She contacted local people who had connections with the area, including those who had worked stripping peat, quarrying and mining. She also spent time with the volunteers who assist English Nature with recording wildlife, managing the reserve and introducing visitors to its special qualities. She worked on several short videos, exploring opposing perspectives - the destruction involved not only in taking peat to create an oasis of a garden in our own backyards, but also in managing the vegetation of the reserve to protect bog species and prevent the encroachment of scrub. She explored new ways of working, combining found and made objects, mixing 'real' imagery with constructions, and trying voice-overs that introduced conflicting comments on the story. She also recorded the process of destroying a small teddy bear, in order to construct the models of cotton grass - reflecting the processes of destruction and restoration that mark the history of the Moors. At an event to mark the end of her residency, Suraya displayed videos, models, storyboards, photos, sketchbooks and all the cards she had received with comments about the Moors. Suraya still has her website running, which documents her work in progress, and invites visitors to add their comments - on the special history and atmosphere of Thorne and Hatfield Moors, or on her work. Please visit and add your comments! For more about Suraya's work, see storyboard 1 and storyboard 3
For more information about Suraya's earlier
work, see
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