01/01/2018 - 31/10/2018

A bridge between my residency on Moverons Farm and the theme of this year’s festival is the Roman god Mars – god of war and agriculture.  His connection with agriculture is not well known, but many soldiers were also farm labourers and the military campaigning season began only after harvest.  Mars represents military power to secure peace, unlike the Greek god Ares, who was destructive and destabilising.  Mars was called upon to drive off ‘rust’ with is double-meaning of wheat fungus and the red oxide that affects metal – a threat to both weaponry and farm tools.

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Camulus was a deity of the Celts that the Romans equated with Mars and after whom the name Camulodunum may have derived, the Roman name for Colchester.

Works will be on display during the festival in and around festival venues.  I will also be running an art workshop at firstsite on Saturday 22 September.