Lone Women in Flashes of Wilderness is a collaborative, global project, founded and run by Scottish writer and artist Clare Archibald.

 

The project started in 2017 with a callout for women to share their experiences of, and ideas on aloneness, darkness & wilderness to inform a work of experimental nonfiction performed in varying stages of darkness and aloneness at Sanctuary Lab, a visual arts festival held in the Dark Skies Park of the Galloway Forest. The work explored how women carry stories of place and the ways in which we move through spaces and places, private and public, real and imagined, and responses were received from women from all continents. The final section was read in pitch darkness, alone, by remote transmitter from inside the forest.

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The project was the first in Scotland to offer a space for women to share words, images and opinions on the ways in which they already, or would like to, engage with ideas of outside in relation to the themes, and is shaped and defined by those who get involved and collaboration opportunities that arise. It is intended to be open and wide ranging in remit in relation to the themes either as single focus or interconnected. 

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The aims of the project are to:

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• ​provide opportunities for women to engage with ideas of aloneness, darkness & wilderness as a means of untelling stories of place & effecting change in how we feel able to move through our world

• promote women's wider engagement with place, real & imagined

• raise awareness of women led stories of place

• provide opportunities for women to build skills and confidence with all of the above

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The possible interpretations & range of responses to the themes are vast & we will continue to highlight this via our interpretations page which serves as a record of presence in place and as recognition of challenges and possibilities. 

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It is our world too in aloneness, darkness  & wilderness and as women individually and together, we can contemplate, create and develop our experience, narrative and record of it. The themes relate to ideas of the outside - this could be linked to nature, the rural or countryside, towns and cities, buildings, activities, psychogeography, environmental connections & concerns - the list is open. It could also be linked to ideas of inside or imaginative.  

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You can submit writing, photography, film, opinion pieces, music, art, research or event information that corresponds to the themes via our submissions page. All copyright remains with you.

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If you have ideas for joint working or skills or expertise that you can offer or any questions then you can contact us via our contacts page.

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You can also follow and engage with us via Twitter and Instagram.

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Thank you for your interest in the project and we look forward to hearing your stories of place and how you would like to tell them.

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