Pear pressure – transient text as territoriality

Abstract

Place-oriented practice has gained a more prominent position within the remit of contemporary art in recent years. This paper discusses how the exploration and recording of something as seemingly transient as inscribed ‘text’ on prickly pear leaves (classification - opuntia ficus-indica) might reveal surprising insights into place. The work interrogates the strollers’ tendency to inscribe words and symbols on the fleshy tissue of prickly pears growing abundantly in the Maltese countryside. Ingold (2007, p.43) asserts that when ‘text’ is formed by the removal of material, scored or etched, it can be described as reductive writing. This paper argues that ‘soft graffiti’ can further our understanding of fleeting territoriality and generate insight into the social and cultural aspects of place.1 Strollers succumb to the habit of their peers and with a pointed or sharp object and by applying some pressure they inscribe ‘text’ on fresh leaves. Hence the title: Pear Pressure. I photographed this habit over a number of years accumulating hundreds of photographs. Each photograph tells a story. The photographic archive emerging from such exploration developed into an artistic installation which was first exhibited at the University of Leeds in 2014 and at the newly established contemporary art space at the Junior college in 2018.