McHenry County, Illinois
with Andrew Adams, Claire Arctander, Linda Balek, Amanda Crockett,
Louis Dickinson, Pam Holt, Barbara Laing, Jeffrey Letterly, Lara Philip,
Carla Owens, Matthew Owens, and Nena Samardzija.
Photo credit: Jim Green and Joan Dickinson

Drove Road took place in the countryside covering a 22-mile route. During the time that I made the performance, I came across the writing of British photographer and antiquarian Alfred Watkins who “rediscovered” ley lines in the British countryside around 1921 describing them in his book The Old Straight Track. Leys are alignments of ancient sites stretching across the landscape often most simply seen as an aligned placing of markers, or the line might be visible on the ground for all or part of its length by the remains of a track. Watkins surmised that these straight tracks were the remnants of prehistoric trading routes. He went on to associate the lines with various means of communication, the formation of boundaries, and with different mythological figures who functioned as guides to travelers on unknown paths. In doing my outdoor work, Drove Road and others, I came to understand the ley of a performed landscape as a collage, consisting of live events, human-generated and nature-made landmarks, and stopping places chosen or created with an intention towards a cohesive narrative.