Most biologists agree that we are now in the midst of a major man-caused mass extinction event. Some predict that as much as half of all species on the planet will disappear in the next 100 years! The Desert Crossings project aims to highlight our relationship to the environment, inviting renowned South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma to create artwork inspired by the South West’s Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The Jurassic Coast covers 95 miles of truly stunning coastline with rocks recording 180 million years of the Earth’s history. This period includes three past major extinction events, most famous among them that of the dinosaurs 65m years ago. Desert Crossings intends to bring the Jurassic Coast’s landscape, its rocks and fossils, to life, as a way of engaging audiences in these important issues.
South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma, “a compelling globetrotting phenomenon”, is well placed to give a voice to this landscape. His latest piece Skeleton Dry is inspired by the Skeleton Coast of southern Africa, by its myths of bones and fossils, and of extinction. While Skeleton Dry “challenges one to reflect on life through its absence … where fossils have become the revelation of life that once was”, it invokes Ezekiel’s Biblical vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, which sees the bones come to life and life regenerated. It is this hope that Desert Crossings speaks of.
Amazingly, the two coastlines, the Skeleton and the Jurassic, are linked through time and geology to a distant past when all continents formed a single landmass and the South West of England was a desert. In the hot, arid climate, layers of fine, red, wind-blown dust settled in a patchwork of shallow salt-lakes and sun-baked mudflats. Remnants of this ancient desert still exist, exposed as red rocks along the Jurassic and Skeleton Coasts. As the continents drifted apart the two coastlines remained linked, through migration, trade, and shared histories of piracy and slavery which moulded the peoples and cultures of these two regions. Desert Crossings builds bridges between the two continents, tracing our shared memories and the Earth’s history through the sands of time. The stories they uncover will engage communities in a global conversation about universal hopes and dreams of a better world. It is a vision of regeneration which can only be achieved through cross-cultural collaboration, and Desert Crossings intends to bring this message to London’s 2012 Olympics.
Support our vision by leaving your comment for the selection panel on the Artists taking the Lead website. Let them know why you feel the Desert Crossings vision is important, and why Desert Crossings should be selected to be one of 12 arts projects at the London 2012 Olympics.
Check out the Jurassic Coast website, find out more about the current mass extinction in these articles by the BBC, the Guardian, and the Independent, and follow the link for more information about Gregory Maqoma.
