‘Muckspreading again ...’ (Looking West - Evening. Fields and Farm in a Spinney - from South of Walcott near Happisburgh - towards Riddlington, Norfolk), 25 September 1983 1983

Editor: This charcoal drawing, ‘Muckspreading again…,’ by Colin Self from 1983, evokes a sense of bleakness, yet there's a strange beauty in the mundane. What persistent symbols or recurring imagery do you find in this piece? Curator: The birds, the smoke, the field itself--these all speak to cycles. Consider the birds as messengers, linking earth and sky, while the smoke suggests transient industry. What do these symbols say about our relationship to the land? Editor: Perhaps it speaks to a tension between natural cycles and human intervention. Curator: Precisely. Self uses these visual cues to invoke a cultural memory of rural life constantly shaped by both nature and our attempts to control it. Notice the "muckspreading" itself as a loaded symbol of fertility and waste. Editor: So the drawing isn't just a depiction, but a commentary on our interaction with the landscape. I never thought about it that way. Curator: Indeed. These symbols are not static but actively engage with our understanding of place and time.