Hyslop has said she is interested in exploring ‘the imposition of human rules and structures on plants’ and ‘the push and pull of the relationship between human activity and nature’s resilience.’* Her work focuses on the industrial decline of the Midlothian, documenting the changes to the landscape and the transformation of local flora and fauna as the mining, rail and other man-made industries fall into ruin.
Old Road, New Road depicts an interconnected web of buildings, farmland and young forests, questioning the boundaries we use to define the space around us. Where is the division between manmade and natural? Does this division exist? And is there a more complex relationship between humanity and nature that is symbiotic and interconnected despite attempts at mastery and control?
* Artist’s statement emailed to the author, quoted in: Pelzer-Montada, Ruth. “Knowing One’s Place: Jane Hyslop’s Entangled Gardens.” Art in Print 5, no. 1 (2015): 12–16.
