Agricultural detritus and artistic practices: Reflections on animating heritage and reclaiming place-specific narratives

Half-forgotten and partly functional objects punctuate the rhythm of the farming landscape in Mid—West, Wales, UK. These objects range from fences, fence--posts, gates walls and more substantial architecture. What does it mean to see these objects as signifiers of a culture in a particular place? What does it mean to uncover them and to create something else from their ruination? This article examines the process of creating a series of ten stop-animated films that draw attention to daily work and its remains, or leftovers, in the contemporary farm landscape and environment. By exploring how everyday objects, as seen in the films (such as fence-posts and gates), could be viewed as culturally significant for those who farm the land, I argue for a reconsideration of everyday materiality within the discourse of heritage conservation. The article reflects and examines the films through the optics of time, contemporary archaeology, Henry Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis, nostalgia, place, and heritage. I suggest how in this place, our past and our present are entwined in our everyday, routine relationships with the place, while making considerations on the nature of heritage and landscape preservation—asking what gets saved and why?