This June, I’ll be contributing to the 2024 Offa’s Dyke Collaboratory conference. In addition to talking about the use of comics as a way of visualising and explaining linear earthwork monuments, I’ll also be organising a small exhibition in partnership with a number of other artists. The exhibition – Seeing the Line: Art, creativity and perceptions of Offa’s Dyke – will bring together a selection of local and not-so-local artists who have all drawn inspiration of one form or another from Offa’s Dyke. The idea is to demonstrate the way in which creative engagements with ancient sites and monuments can reveal different ways in which people see and understand those monuments: as social spaces, as focuses for leisure and commemoration, as jumping-off points from which to explore cultural, environmental or historical connections, etc. This is not a new idea, but it is an opportunity to begin to explore how it manifests at Offa’s Dyke.
As usual, the ODC one-day conference is an opportunity for the wide range of those involved in the research, conservation and interpretation of the dyke to come together. It’s a great opportunity, too, for those who live and work around the dyke to not only hear what those specialists have to say – but to also talk about the things that concern them: access, business opportunities, links with education and schools, etc.