A Measure of Care

A Measure of Care is a work by artists Ruth Levene and Ian Nesbitt. It was commissioned through a curatorial partnership between In Certain Places and The Harris.

The artists were commissioned by In Certain Places in 2017 as part of the Expanded City Project, where they created an exploratory work titled The Precarious Landscape. During their research for this project, they encountered the John Weld Collection in The Harris archives, including a particularly significant ledger written by John Weld.

For A Measure of Care, the artists returned this 19th-century ledger from The Harris collection to the landscape in which it was originally written. They invited local farmers, birders, residents, ornithologists, conservationists, and historians to reflect on its contents.

John Weld (1813–1888) was a Victorian landowner, antiquarian, naturalist, and amateur painter who lived at Leagram Hall, near Chipping, in the Forest of Bowland. Over his lifetime, Weld kept detailed records of the natural world in his local area and beyond. In his ledger, Flora and Fauna of the Leagram and Neighbourhood, he compiled “a list of birds observed or taken in the neighbourhood of Leagram within a radius of four or five miles from the hall,” documenting 112 bird species over a fifty-year period, from 1836 until his death.

A Measure of Care traces expressions of love, care, and grief across three moments in time. The ledger, completed in 1888, is displayed alongside an oral recording read by Weld’s descendants. Moving forward 137 years to the present day, we encounter local farmers, birders, residents, ornithologists, conservationists, and historians reflecting on the changes since Weld’s time, including the rapid decline of bird species. Stepping a further 137 years into a speculative future, the work imagines a lone archivist caring for the preserved skins of now-extinct birds.

The resulting two-screen video and accompanying works form an exhibition at The Harris.

Artists: Ruth Levene & Ian Nesbitt

Location: The Harris Preston

Years: 2024 - 2025

Partners: Lucie Mascord Conservation Officer, Natural History and Environmental Management Cultural Services, Lancashire County Council; Ann Thompson Harris volunteer; Tarja Wilson Forest of Boland trust

Participants: Andrew Berry, David Hindle, Frank Hoyle, Graham Hulme, Muriel Lord, Lucie Mascord, John Weld- Blundell and Tarja Wilson

Funder: The Harris

Image credits: Simon Critchley

In Certain Places

VB005A, Victoria Building
University of Lancashire
Preston, PR1 2HE
info@incertainplaces.org

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