Gathering Precious Fragments: Reassembling Cornish Heritage through MESKLA

Kuntel Brewyon Drudh:

Keskorra Ertach Kernewek dres

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh

Gathering Precious Fragments: Reassembling Cornish Heritage through MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh

Written by Sefryn Penrose & Angela Piccini of ButCH/*

Commissioned by MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh (Mussel Gathering | Precious Fragments) a project by Sovay Berriman

Kuntel Brewyon Drudh:

Keskorra Ertach Kernewek dres MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh

Yth yw 10 mis Kevardhu 2022, dydh-degea a’n kynsa rann MESKLA: Sovay Berriman Brewyon Drudh - ragdres brashes gravyans gans y gres yn Resrudh, Kernow. An ober art lies-media ma a dhevnydh kravyans ha keskows rag hwithra honanieth kernewek kevos ha’y hevren gans ertach, tir ha diwysyansow balweyth, ha gans tourystieth1.

Hy thirwedh spyrysel, kigek ha lies-skeulek a vrewyon drudh askorrys gans kevres shoppys ober gwrys yn 2022 yw kuntelys omma, orth Krowji (Kernewek: hwelji po krow) yn Resrudh, Kernow. Hemm yw tyller Skol Ramer Resrudh, 1907-76, ena Skol Resrudh 1976-2002, dasporposys – eylgylghys – lemmyn avel kolm awenek. Yma jynnji karten ha kork a’y esedh war leur prenn parkynn erbynn fos studhla Berriman. A-ugh yma formow a bib kober 15mm, selwys dhyworth oberennow plommweyth a-dro Kernow, tennys dhe shap gans pibblegyor kolpes ha sodrys war-barth dhe formya kesweythyow franksevys, po kregys dhyworth an nen rag mos mes a wel yn isframweyth eus ena hag dhe ves y’n bys eno. Yma pannweyth a lies liw kelmys ha kregys dhe’n pibow – rudhvelynyow neon, melynyow, morliwyow ha gwerlasow – gwiys yn tiwysyansel dhyworth efander a fibers synthesek hag naturel. An kethsam pannweyth yw gweladow avel kolm a-dro karten guntelys, paper ha servyours plastek.

Dhyworth Krowji y hyllir mires orth an tyller bann Karn Bre, gans y hay ha kastel kresosel. Hwel Uni – oberys rag kober ha sten – a omsav tamm pella. Yma fenten sans S. Uni gans hy gwedhen gwethik neythys ena ynwedh. Yn 1855 y hwrug skrifer Walter White deskrifa an gwel dhyworth Karn Bre, ow mires war-nans dhe’n tirwedh a-woles:

Tirwedh nownek, pub le deformys gans menydhyow byghan a atal lies-liw; treusys yn pub tu gans hensyow kul ha fordhow gwius, gans goverow a dhowr plos, gans jynnow skrija gans trenow fyski; ha rosow ha hwymmow, ha mildiryow a wel-pompya, ow troyllya hag ow krena, ha’n koos a gebrow hir, a wra milhyntall marthys a jynnweyth ha gwayans. Breghow kowr a jynnow eth a sways war-vann ha war-woles; ha’n melinyow stampya dell hevel yn kesskrif bos an heglewa, yn unn warnya a-bell a-dro dhe avonsyans gans digolodhyona an bys hel koth.

(White, 1855)

Ha’n dirwedh diwysygel bewek na ow slynkya lemmyn a-berth yn klewansek gans hy gwreydh yn solempnyans 18ves kansbledhen a’n magor, an “menydhyow byghan a atal lies-liw” a gemmer form omma yn studhla. Hemm yw devedhegyeth kernewek.

Y’n spas nerthek ma a stoff koodhys war-barth yma ragdres Berriman ow hwilas apposya govynnow selyel a ertach ha honanieth kernewek. Y’n stevel lies-kessenyek, y sord tirwedh a figurys denel hag andhenel ha’ga hevrennow yn skeulyow divers. Yma bagas a figurys denses-eneval gans breghow ha bysies hirhes war alter – po yw menydh? – a’y esedh. Yma koninki karten gans diwskovarn velyn omgrommys y’n gornel. Gwenen pur vras yw brassa ages chiow. Kacheryow hunros wosa-apokaliptek a way. Hattow kevewi yw kuntelys war-barth avel morsort braster-bras. Kath karten furv treghys yw kerghynnys gans mandala glas boll a cellofan. Nebes anedha kuntelys omma hedhyw re wrug rann yn shoppys ober a askorras an gravyansow ma. An keskowsow a vagas an gravyansow – keshwilas a ertach ha honanieth kernewek – yw pesys y’n spas studhla.

1 https://sovayberriman.co.uk/MESKLA-Brewyon-Drudh

Gathering Precious Fragments:

Reassembling Cornish Heritage through MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh

It is 10 December 2022, the closing day of the first stage of Sovay Berriman’s MESKLA: Brewyon Drudh - an expanded sculpture project centred in Redruth, Cornwall. This multiplatform art work uses sculpture and conversation to explore contemporary Cornish cultural identity and its relationship with heritage, land and extraction industries, to include tourism1

Her mystical, muscular, multiscalar landscape of precious fragments produced by a series of workshops undertaken in 2022 are gathered here, at Krowji (Cornish: workshop or shed) in Redruth, Cornwall. This is the site of Redruth Grammar School, 1907-76, then Redruth School 1976-2002, repurposed – recycled – now as a creative hub. A cardboard and cork engine house sits on a parquet wooden floor against the wall of Berriman’s studio. Above are forms of 15mm copper pipe, salvaged from plumbing jobs around Cornwall, pulled into shapes using a lever pipe bender and soldered together to form free-standing structures, or hung from the ceiling to disappear into existing infrastructure and out into the world beyond. To the pipes are tied and draped lengths of variously coloured textiles – neon oranges and yellows, aquas, teals – industrially woven from a range of synthetic and naturally occurring fibres. These same textiles are visible as bindings around gathered cardboard, paper, plastic trays.

From Krowji you can look up at the hilltop site of Carn Brea (Karnbre in Cornish), with its Neolithic enclosure and Medieval castle. Wheal Uny – worked for copper and tin – pokes up just beyond. The holy well of St Euny with its decorated Clootie tree is nestled there too. In 1855, writer Walter White described the view from Karnbre, looking down on the landscape below:

A hungry landscape, everywhere deformed by small mountains of many-coloured refuse; traversed in all directions by narrow paths and winding roads, by streams of foul water, by screaming locomotives with hurrying trains; while wheels and whims, and miles of pumping rods, whirling and vibrating, and the forest of tall beams, made up of an astonishing maze of machinery and motion. Giant arms of steam engines swing up and down; and the stamping mills appear to try which can thunder loudest, proclaiming afar the progress made in disembowelling the bountiful old earth. (White, 1855)

While that actively industrial landscape now slips into an aesthetics whose origins lie in the 18th-century celebration of the ruin, the “small mountains of many-coloured refuse” take shape here in the studio. This is Cornish futurism.

In this exuberant space of tumbled-together matter Berriman’s project looks to interrogate fundamental questions of Cornish heritage and identity. In the polyphonous room, a landscape emerges of human and other-than-human figures and relations at various scales. On top of an altar – or is it a mountain? – sits a group of human-animal forms with elongated arms and fingers. A cardboard rabbit-dog with yellow ears hunches in a corner. Huge bees tower over houses. Post-apocalyptic dream catchers sway. Party hats are clustered together as a supersized sea urchin. A cardboard cut-out of a cat is surrounded by a translucent blue, cellophane mandala. Some of those gathered here today have taken part in the workshops that produced these sculptures. The conversations that fed the sculptures – explorations of Cornish heritage

1 https://sovayberriman.co.uk/MESKLA-Brewyon-Drudh

Mis Est 2022: yma deg den a’ga esedh a-dro moos orth Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change [Kentrevethow Kernow rag Chanj], Resrudh. Yma’n voos ow fenna gans stoffow: mestreghow pann, paper, folen, roos. Kil fenester dhown yw lenwys gans kistyow karten a gistyow karten erel, pottow plastek, kalennow ha pibow ha kannys. I yw taklow hag o taklow erel kyns, taklow a wrug fardella taklow erel. Atal, awos bos oll anedha tewlys dhe-ves. Yn kott Berriman a gomend hy ragdres ha hi ow maylya ha snodya fardel a garten ha paper. Hi a boynt dhe’n pil a stoff. An bobel a dhallath gul.

Berriman a wovyn: pyth a styr honanieth wonisogethek kernewek dhis? Yma kri ogas unver “boos!” Rag pols, pastiow, torthellow safran ha’n folneth a dhehen-kynsa yw an brassa tra a’n keskows hag gravyansow ow sordya. Ena y sord keskows moy tyckli:

“Nyns ov vy kernewek. Genys veuv omma, mes gwrys veuv yn Northampton.”

“Yth ov vy saw person an bys.”

“My a veu genys yn Pow Evrek mes my re bia omma a-ban 1932.”

“Ty yw kernewek dres eghen ytho!”

“Ny grysav y hyllir movya omma hag omelwel kernewek, ny grysav bos henna fer.”

“My a breder mar kwre’ ta omglewes neppyth henn yw pyth os ta. Ty a ylli omglewes dha vos Elvis hag y tal dhis tevi gans henna.”

Darnow drudh yw an gravyansow – y’ga mysk an jynnji ma – kuntelys war-barth a-ji dhe studhla Berriman. Desedhys yw a-berdh yn Tyller Ertach an Bys Tirwedh Valweyth Kernow ha Dewnens West. Pennsavon a apoyntyans ertach yw gre Tyller Ertach an Bys (WHS), grontyes gans UNESCO, Kowethyans Adhyskansel, Godhoniethek ha Gonisogethel an Kenedhlow Unys. Disputyes yw tybyans a “ertach an bys”, hag a brof y trehettho denses keswel a’n termyn eus passyes, mes toul gallosek ha kunteladow byttegyns. Skrifys veu an tyller WHS ma yn 2006:

Yth yw an remenantys posek … kofheans a vri a’n kevro a ros Kernow ha Dewnens West dhe’n Domhwelans Diwysyansel yn Breten Veur ha dhe’n delanwes selvenel a avowas an rannvro orth displegyans a valweyth y’n bys.

Golowpoyntyes yw estennans ha dismygyans, an divroans hag a dus hag a draow, ha’n sewena a’n dhew. An skrif WHS a dhiskwedh “bri ollvysel dres eghen” an tyller: “Teknologieth kernewek ragresek, korfys yn jynnys ethen ughelwaskek hag yn daffar balweyth aral, a veu esperthys dres an bys oll, war-barth ha movyans a dus val ow tivroa rag triga hag oberi yn kemenethow bal, selyes yn lies gweyth orth hengovyow kernewek.” Diskwedhys yw Kernow avel kres an bys, avel dismygyas ollvysel, avel gwrier a wonisogeth keskarek, mes Kernow devynnys: gorrys dhe-ves, ha devnydhyes rag gwruthyl ken le (eylgylghyes) – y daklow, y dus, ha’y hengovyow. Menegyans diblans yw a vri Kernow avel neppyth a yllir kemeres dhe-ves heb prederi.

Gre WHS a styr y fydh mentenys an tirwedh valweyth yn hy studh diswrys bys vykken. Estennys veu dhyworti an kober, sten hag arsenik hag a allosegas diwysyansegyans uskis, ha pennow-pella an ragdres emperourethek: alkenyow rag gwitha kogh gorholyon, rag gallosegi keskomunyans, rag gwara a-bervedh, rag kavasa boos, rag an kenwerthow an moyha hager. Devnydhyes veu kober kernewek y’n manillys gwerthys rag tus kethhes mar a-varr avel 1524. Erbynn an bledhynnyow 1890, gorfennys o balweyth kober yn Kernow, arlehes gans kober hag o pelys esya po le kostek yn ken le (mes, eylgylghyadow genesik, yma ev ow kylghresek hwath). Penn rol estenna kober yw Chile lemmyn, hag yma dhodho y Dyller Ertach an Bys

and identity – are continued in the studio space.

August 2022: ten people sit around a table at Cornwall Neighbourhoods for Change, Redruth. The table is overflowing with materials: fabric off-cuts, paper, foil, netting. A deep bay window is filled with cardboard boxes of other cardboard boxes, plastic pots, straws and tubes and tins. They are things that were once other things, things that once packaged other things. Rubbish, in that all of these bits and bobs have effectively been discarded. Berriman briefly introduces her project while wrapping and taping a bundle of cardboard and paper. She gestures towards the materials stash. The people begin to make.

Berriman asks: what does Cornish cultural identity mean to you? There is an almost unanimous yell of “food!” For a little while pasties, saffron buns, and the foolishness of cream-onfirst dominates the conversation as sculptures emerge. Then a more contested conversation emerges:

“I’m not Cornish. I was born here, but I was made in Northampton.”

“I’m just a person in the world.”

“I was born in Yorkshire but I’ve been here since 1932.”

“You’re Cornish through and through then!”

“I don’t think you can move here and call yourself Cornish. I don’t think that’s fair.”

“I think if you feel something that’s who you are. You could feel you’re Elvis and you should grow with that.”

The sculptures are precious fragments – including that mine engine house – brought together within Berriman’s studio. It is situated within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. World Heritage Site status is the gold standard of heritage designation, awarded by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The idea of “world heritage” is contested, with its implication that humanity might reach a common shared outlook on the past, but nonetheless it is a powerful and mustering tool. This WHS site was inscribed in 2006:

The substantial remains…are a prominent reminder of the contribution Cornwall and west Devon made to the Industrial Revolution in Britain and to the fundamental influence the area asserted on the development of mining globally.

Extraction and innovation are highlighted, the migration of both people and things, and the prospering of both. The WHS inscription outlines the “outstanding universal value” of the site: “Innovative Cornish technology embodied in high-pressure steam engines and other mining equipment was exported around the world, concurrent with movement of mineworkers migrating to live and work in mining communities based in many instances on Cornish traditions”. Cornwall is framed as centre-of-the-world, as global innovator, as diasporic culture-maker, but an extracted Cornwall: one that has been taken away and used to create elsewhere (recycled) – its things, its people, and its traditions. It is an explicit statement of Cornwall’s value as something that can be taken without qualm.

WHS status means that that mining landscape will be maintained in its perpetually ruined state. From it was extracted the copper, tin, and arsenic that enabled rapid industrialisation and the extremes of the imperial project: metals for protecting ships’ hulls, for enabling communication, for domestic wares, for canning food, for the ugliest trades. Cornish copper was used in the manillas traded for enslaved people as early as 1524. But by the 1890s, copper mining in Cornwall was largely over, supplanted by copper more easily or cheaply mined

Balweyth Kober yn honan (Ciudad minera de Sewell). Yma dhe vappa keskar WHS Kernow ha Dewnens West brassa rann a’y bynnow Amerika Dyghow yn Chile1: Kernow estennys. Dell skrif hendhyskonydh Sarah May a ertach diwysyans yn Abertawe, “ertach re omgeffrysyas orth politegieth erbysek, mes ken via an hwedhlow mar pe keffrysys orth an hin po orth politegieth yeghes poblek” (Mis Me 2023, 86). Fog Berriman orth skoll, dasusyans, eylgylghyans, dashwedhlans (ger Angeline Morrison rag daskorra hwedhlow a fyll, gwelewgh a-woles) a brof govynnow. Fatel via ertach daskonfigurys, ken keffrysys?

1 https://www.cornishmining.org.uk/media/pdfs/WHS_Diaspora_Map_c.2003.pdf

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh exhibition Nov-Dec 2022, Krowji, Redruth. Photo credit: Nick Cooney

elsewhere (though inherently recyclable, it still circulates). Chile now tops the league-table for copper production and has its own copper-mining World Heritage Site (Sewell Mining Town). The Cornwall and West Devon WHS diaspora map has the majority of its South American pins in Chile1: Cornwall, extracted. As archaeologist Sarah May writes of the heritage of the copper industry in Swansea, “heritage has allied itself to economic politics but narratives would be different if it were allied to climate or public health politics” (May 2023, 86). Berriman’s focus on waste, reuse, recycling, restorying (Angeline Morrison’s term for reinserting missing narratives, see below) asks questions. What would a reconfigured, differently allied heritage look like? 1

https://www.cornishmining.org.uk/media/pdfs/WHS_Diaspora_Map_c.2003.pdf

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh exhibition Nov-Dec 2022, Krowji, Redruth. Photo credit: Nick Cooney

Mis Gwynngala 2022, dohajydh dy’Sul, yma Berriman yn Klub Socyal Rumon, Resrudh. Ilewydhyon werin re omguntelas rag seni war-barth. Yma hippys, punks koth, esravyoryon, fleghes ha keun ow lenwel an tyller. Hi a dhadhel an ragdres ha diskwedhes onan a’y gravyansigow, braster a balv – furvys dhyworth kober-plomya daswaynys – dhe geskowser orth an barr. “Euver yw art, marnas semlans a neppyth,” yn-medh ev. Y halsa martesen esya dhe leverel fatel nag yw kernewekter hag art, es fatel yw. An den a lever bos kernewekter “ynno”, mes ny yll ev y styrya. Yma ow vanshya, dell lever y goweth. Ilewydh a dewha an barr gans performyans a bibow sagh kernewek. Kowrek yw an gras.

Diskwedhys yw gonisogeth kernewek avel omglewans. Y hwrer gwallow pan assayir hy styrya. Dell lever skoler an yeth ha’n wonisogeth kernewek, Bernard Deacon y hanow, orth y wiasva:

Selyes yw an honanieth kernewek war dri grond.

Kynsa, yma fardel a fara, stonsys ha teythi kevrynnys gans bos ‘Kernewek’, y’ga mysk, rag ensampel:

– kerensa a nebes eghen a ilow – keuryow lev gwer, rag an huni a neb unn oos; kan ha dons ‘keltek’ rag oos aral

– plegyans dhe breferya an kod rugbi a bell droos, ow provia skila a’n prysweythyow na y’n ugensves kansbledhen, pan o kernewekter displegyes dres eghen yn poblek

– rakkerensa a eghennow boos, kepar ha pastiow po tesennow safran

– lesyeth arbennik po devnydh a eryow rannyeth

–po hogen sens a dhidhan anstyryadow

Nessa, yma an yeth Kernewek, ogassa dhe Vretennek, ha gans hevelepter dhe Gembrek. […].

Tressa, yma agan istori. Na’n termyn eus passyes, na wra chanjya, mes hwedhlow a’n termyn na, hag a wra. […]1.

Nyns eus meur a spas, ytho, rag nebonan a vo sad, na yllo kavos gluten, a avoyd sport, may fo da ganso Cardi B ha dons stret, ha na ve rosweythyes yn honanieth “hengovek” Kernow.

A-denewen a’y hogennow, taksonomieth Deacon a allsa bos Kembrek keffrys (mirewgh orth Dicks 2000). Hyntya a wra orth eskeans a venenes – dhe’n lyha ow kemeres rann yn gwriansow gonisogethel – hag a wra provians skant rag honanieth wonisogethel dhe vos hedro, dhe vos hag aswonys yn komparek hag ygor dhe janj. Py hensyow eus rag kemenethow dhe dhiskwedhes gwiryoneth a’n termyn eus passys hag o pub prys moy divers ha liesplek ages an huni heleverys gans Deacon, y’n servis a’n wiryoneth a dermyn a-lemmyn divers? Yma taklow hag a remayn, a bes – yn koynt – kryllasow balweyth, heb mar, mes taklow dastevnydhys ha hwath yn kylghtro keffrys: stockys growan dhyworth jynnjiow, lemmyn yn fosow; kober, hwath devnydhys; mengleudhyow ha tewynnow avel paradhisow rag tus a gar aktivitys a’n diwettha. Yma “devnydhyow koynt” kevys, “pan vo taklow devnydhys rag mynasow nag o yntendys dhedha, mes i dhe witha gnasow hwath an dra” (Ahmed 2018).

An ughelboynt a estennans kober ha’y dyller yn leheans an bys a hwarva yn kettermynyek gans an pyth a wrug Eric Hobsbawm ha Terence Ranger henwel “dismygyans a hengov” (1983). Ha’n balyow ow telivra aga frofyansow an moyha rych, yth esa an meyn kov a Gernow ow pos rekordys ha delinys gans rach ha henwys keltek gans henstudhyer William Borlase (1754). An kynsa recayt pasti a veu dyllys yn 1746. An diwettha Konsel Stenegow Kernow a veu synsys yn 1753. Dolly Pentreath, deklarys an diwettha Kerneweger genesik, a verwis yn 1777 ha’n oberyans dhe rekordya an yeth “kellys” a dhallathas. Dell dhallathas an didhiwysyansegyans kynsadhves Kernow y’n 19ves kansbledhen, an drehevyans – ha 1 https://bernarddeacon.com/identities/the-cornish-identity

In September 2022, on a Sunday afternoon, Berriman is at St Rumons Social Club, Redruth. Folk musicians have gathered to jam. Hippies, old punks, ex-ravers, children and dogs fill the venue. She discusses the project and shows one of her palm-sized pocket sculptures –cast from reclaimed plumbing copper – to an interlocutor at the bar. “Art is pointless unless it looks like something,” he says. It may be easier to say what both Cornishness and art are not than what it is they are. The man says Cornishness is “in him” but he can’t define it. His companion says it’s disappearing. A musician silences the bar with a rendition from the Cornish bagpipes. The appreciation is huge.

Cornish culture is expressed as a feeling. Attempts to pin it down create omissions. Scholar of Cornish language and culture, Bernard Deacon, states on his website that:

The Cornish identity rests on three foundations.

First, there’s a package of behaviours, attitudes and attributes associated with being ‘Cornish’. For example these might include

- a fondness for some types of music – male voice choirs for those of a certain age; ‘Celtic’ song and dance for another

- a tendency to prefer the rugby code of football, providing the trigger for those occasions in the 20th century when Cornishness was most prominently displayed publicly

- a predilection for items of diet such as pasties or saffron buns

- a particular accent or use of dialect words

- or even an indefinable sense of humour

Second, there’s the Cornish language, closest to Breton and with some similarities to Welsh. […].

Third, there’s our history. Not the past, which doesn’t change. But the stories told about that past, which do. […]1

Not much room then for the serious, gluten-intolerant, sport-avoidant, Cardi B and streetdance fan who has not been networked into the “traditional” identity of Cornwall.

Aside from its pastries, Deacon’s taxonomy could just as well be Welsh (see Dicks 2000). It hints at an exclusion of women – at least in cultural participation – and makes little provision for cultural identity to be mutable, to be both specifically identifiable and open to change. What paths are there for communities to manifest the actuality of a past that was always more diverse and multiple than the one articulated by Deacon, in the service of the actuality of a diverse present? Things remain, persist – queerly – mining ruins, sure, but also things reused and still in circulation: granite blocks from engine houses, now in walls; copper, still in use; quarries and sandhills as adrenalin-junky paradises. “Queer uses” are found, “when things are used for purposes other than the ones for which they were intended, still reference the qualities of the thing” (Ahmed 2018).

The heyday of copper extraction and its place in shrinking the world occurred simultaneously with what Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger called “the invention of tradition” (1983). As the mines were delivering their richest offerings, the granite monuments of Cornwall were being carefully logged and drawn and designated Celtic by antiquarian William Borlase (1754). The first published pasty recipe appeared in 1746. The last Cornish Stannary Parliament was held 1753. Dolly Pentreath, proclaimed the last native speaker of Cornish, died in 1777 and the operation to record the “lost” language began. As Cornwall’s premature deindustrialisation began in the 19th century, the construction – and reality – of a 1 https://bernarddeacon.com/identities/the-cornish-identity

gwirvos – a wonisogeth keltek a dhallathas. Hemm a wrug kenertha hengovyow ha honanieth a-dhistowgh, ow korra an kenedhlow keltek war an “amal”, aga gul aral dhyworth kres emperourethek, ha gorra an oos a Gernow y’n termyn eus passys. Yth esa brith kernewek dismygys, hag elvennow erel a’n smorgasbord keltek dres dhe’n keth nivel ages an kenedhlow keltek erel. An ober a restoryans a bes. Pibow kernewek yw rann anodho, kevys yn fentynnyow dogvennek bys dhe 1830, i re beu dastismygys, eylgylghys dhyworth hengovyow pib erel ha kovadhow dogvennek, ha re bons gwrys a-dhia an 1990ow. An (das)“tismygyans” ma re beu solempnys yn tivers avel kenedhlegieth keltek hag a dhelirv, keffrys hag avel dasoberus ha hirethek. An tybyans a hengov ha’n edhom a’y ventena ha, mars eus edhom, y dhastismygi, a allsa bos gwelys avel an geynlenn skiansek dhe genedhlegiethow delivransek, ow kul tiredh ekskludus a res hag a herdh war-dhelergh an wlas vrassa ha keseghenhek war y amal (Willett 2013). Mes kenedhlegieth yw gans hy kres war an moredh a goll, hag a re privylej dhe nebes skorennow gonisogethel yn arbennik.

Yn py le hwra dalleth an sens a vos kernewek? An Gernowyon re bia gwelys avel dihaval rag termyn hir. Istorior dhyworth an 12ves kansbledhen, William a Malmesbury, a skrifas gans difres yn y Gesta Regum y hwrug an myghtern Anglo-Sows Aethelstan herdhya “an agh blos” war-dhelergh a-dreus dhe’n Dowr Tamar, ha’n or na a remaynyas. An or a verk an tir hag a yll kavos an hanow kortesi a’n Dhuketh a Gernow, a-ban dheklaryas Desedhek Riel a 1973 bos hemma an kas1. Yurleth yn kynsa le, an Dhuketh a synsi hen estatys manorek, porthow ha stenegow, fenten vrav a arghans rag pennsevigyon gans edhom a wober, mes keffrys yth o rosweyth tynn a dir, tus jentyl ha tus yn tyller hag a ventena elvennow a’y anserghogeth. Arvow an yurleth, ha’n hanow Cornubia, a yll bos gwelys ryb tenewen an re a Bow Sows war’n Magna Carta. Remenant riel martesen, mes merk aral a vos dihaval ynwedh.

Po a wrug henna dalleth dhe’n termyn pan esa an growan furvys? Y’n wask dreusfurvyek a des ha chanj hag a wrug sten, pri gwynn, kober, plomm, zynk, posven ha lithium? Yn hen oos, delinys gans artydhyon Elizabethek John White ha Lucas de Heere avel gwari a enebow gwiskys ha korfliwys dhe’n poyntow dewblek a gestav trevesigel gans an Amerikas ha’n dastiskudhans a skrifow “ethnografek” Grek ha Romanek a-dro dhe dus europek (Gaudio 2009)? Yn hy dadhel bodkast gans Berriman, istorior art Stephanie Pratt a lever ma na wrug an govyn a “biw yw Europeanyon?” sevel marnas avel gorthyp dhe dhalleth a gestav europek gans an Amerikas. Erel ha bos erel a wra honan ha honanieth.

1 An Dhuketh a syns a-dro dhe 13% a Gernow, ha lies tir ha bargen tir pella dhe-ves. MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh Rubbish Sculptures. Photo credit: Sovay Berriman

Celtic culture began. It at once boosted traditions and identity, while positioning the Celtic nations on the “fringe”, othering them from an imperial centre, and placing the age of Cornwall in the past. A Cornish tartan was invented, other elements of the Celtic smorgasbord brought up in line with the other Celtic nations. The work of reinstatement continues. The Cornish bagpipes are part of it, existing in documentary sources up until 1830, they have been reimagined, recycled from other extant pipe traditions and documentary records, and manufactured since the 1990s. This (re)“invention” has been variously celebrated as emancipatory Celtic nationalism and as reactionary and nostalgic. The notion of tradition and the necessity to maintain and if necessary reinvent them might be seen as the intellectual backdrop for emancipatory nationalisms, a necessary exclusive territorialisation that pushes back at the bigger, bordering homogenizing state (Willett 2013). But it is a nationalism that centres the melancholy of loss, and privileges certain cultural fields.

Where does Cornishness begin? The Cornish had long been seen as different. The 12thcentury historian, William of Malmesbury expressed relief in his Gesta Regum that the Anglo-Saxon king Aethelstan had forced “that filthy race” back over the Tamar, and that border remained. The border demarcates what can still bear the courtesy title of the Duchy of Cornwall, since a 1973 Royal Commission declared as much1. Originally an Earldom, the Duchy contained ancient manorial estates, ports and stannaries, a money-spinner for princes in need of an income, but was also a tight networking of land, gentry and people in a place that maintained elements of its independence. The arms of the earldom, and the name Cornubia, feature alongside those of England on the Magna Carta. A royal remnant perhaps, but another marker of otherness too.

Or did it begin in the time of granite formation? In the metamorphic press of heat and transformation that produced tin, china clay, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, and lithium? In the time of ancients, depicted by Elizabethan artists John White and Lucas de Heere as a play of costumed and tattooed surfaces at the dual points of colonial contact with the Americas and the rediscovery of Greek and Roman “ethnographic” texts about European peoples (Gaudio 2009)? In her podcast discussion with Berriman, art historian Stephanie Pratt says that the question of “who are Europeans?” arose only in response to the start of European contact with the Americas. Others and othering make selves and identities.

1 The Duchy currently holds around 13% of Cornwall, and extensive lands and holdings beyond. MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh Rubbish Sculpture & Conversation workshop, Krowji. Photo credit: Danny Wood

Berriman a sev hy mosow gwrians yn Fordh Varghas Resrudh dres pennseythynnyow y’n hav, 2022. Tus a wander a-hys, nebes anedha ow hedhi dhe glappya ha nebes dhe wul po gwari. Den yowynk a gyf bos y honanieth kethreydhel tyller moy wolkommus a awenekter ages y honanieth kernewek. Den yowynk aral, dhyworth Newcastle yn kynsa le mes trigys yn Kernow dres meur a’y vewnans a lever “Yth yw onan a’n traow na. Pan wra tus govyn ‘a by le esos?’ ha my a lever ‘p’eur? Kyns, po lemmyn, po…’ Yth yw tra goynt.” Den aral, moy kyfyansek a’y honanieth, a gews a-dro dh’y dhegemeres avel agan gwir: “Ny wrav vy prederi a-dro dhe vos Kernow. My yw.” Nebonan aral a grodhvol “Gas e dhe verwel a andhynita.”

Pandr’a styr bos kernewek dhedhi? “Na wrewgh gasa nevra an chons dhe setha agas kowetha pan esowgh omsettys gans agas eskerens.” Hi a gews a-dro dhe vernans medras ha pragmatieth fethys.

Nebonan aral a gews a “Dhempark Porthia”, hag a “berghenegyans tornyasek”. Berriman a reken tornyaseth dhe vos onan a’n diwysyansow-estenna. Dres termyn hir, tornyaseth re beu provier erbysek – tus a dheuth dhe weles hen veyn kov keffrys ha balyow owth oberi, y’n bledhynnyow 1700 hogen – ha ny dal sevel orth aswon an fordh may hwrug Kernow dyghtya hy maynorieth hag esthetek hy honan y’n diwysyans na. Py brewsyon eus y’n breus tornyasek a yll bos enowys? Hemm yw martesen an le may junnyo ragdres Berriman dhe omglewans avonsus a honanieth, nag avel stegys yn fugieth a gorf finwethys, mes avel tybyans kwir, po trans hogen, a vos-yn-perthynyans. An tybyansow ma re beu perghenegys avel an tir skiansek a’n wosa-mabdenydhyon europek-amerikanek kledh kepar ha Bruno Latour hag Isabelle Stengers. Mes dell re argyas skriforyon enesik kepar ha Zoe Todd, selys yw an tybiethow perthynyans ma yn bysbreusow esa lettys gans an hen dybyansow europek a honanieth ha kenedhlegieth. Henn yw, an tybyans a “honanieth” stag y’n fordh hag a shapyas honanieth “kenedhel”-finwethys kernewek (ha pub honanieth aral a’n keth par) yw, y honan, askorras a vysbreus europek kompressus. Dell ynias an istorior Kenneth Lunn war y redyoryon: “res yw dhyn aswon…bythkweth re beu honanieth kenedhlek honanieth keskorrys” ha res yw dhyn mos “dres sordyans sempelhes a honanieth istorek dhe aswon an perthyans a furvyans ha dasfurvyans gweythresek” (1996: 83). Mar kreg an sel dybiethel rag honanieth kernewek war vysbreus kompressus hag a dardhas komplegeth ha linuster bys yn honanieth stag, pandr’a hwer nessa dhanna? Skolheyk ha laghyas a-barth gwirow genesik Gabriel Galanda re argyas, “termonieth a genedholeth a veu settys war gowethasow genesik gans trevesigethow europek […] rag justifia dianedhyans gans trevesigyon yn mammvroyow genesik yn-dann argerdh laghel keswlasek, yn arbennik an gwrians a gevambosow” (2023, 9). Ev a dhervyn gweythresans a dybyans genesik a geskowethyans perthynus nag yw stegys avel stat po avel honanieth wovernys dres oll der linyeth. Yn le henna, shapys yw gans kolmow a omgemeryans ha gans keskowethyansow fisegel ha denel/andhenel selys yn kendonow keslesek. Yth yw an omglewans ma a golmow, perthynyans ha kendonow – an krommlinyow a-der an nodys, an kolmow a-der an taklow – yw diskwedhys gans ober Berriman.

Diwedhes y’n 20ves kansbledhen hag a-varr y’n 21a kansbledhen, kernewekter a dhallathas kemeres an furv a worth-sowsnekter leelvysel – Pow Sows avel berrskrif rag gallos, chatelydhieth, trevesigoleth, linyeth – shyndyer a ertach gonisogethel didorr. (MacDonald et al, 1986). Savla Minoryta Kernewek a waynyas talvosogeth avel kolpes rag arghasans. Dre dremena Sowsnekter, a-dhia 2000, Kernow a dhialhwedhas bilvil beuns a arghasans UE1. Rynnys veu raglevow Brexit Kernow 54% diberth/ 48% triga. Ha wosa gasa Europa, yma Kernow war hy fordh dhe dhegemeres fest le es hanter a’n sommen na2. Gans Brexit, Kernow a greg prest moy war dornyaseth sowsnek, mes martesen an tynnheans na a dheu ha bos an oksyjen rag herdhya dastardhans a honanieth wonisogethel kernewek. Styryansek hag ervirus

1 https://cornwallforeurope.org/funding/ 2 https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-set-less-half-replacement-6950559

Berriman sets up her making tables at Redruth Market Way over weekends in summer, 2022. People wander through, some stopping to chat and some to make or play. A young man confides that he’s found his gay identity a more welcoming site of creativity and affirmation than his Cornish one. Another young man, originally from Newcastle but a Cornwall resident for much of his life says “It’s one of those things. When people say ‘where are you from?’ and I say, ‘when? Before, or now or …. It’s a strange thing.” Another man, more confident in his identity, talks about taking it for granted: “I don’t think about being Cornish. I just is.” Someone else mutters “Let it die of indignity.” What’s Cornishness to her? “Never lose the opportunity to shoot your friends when being attacked by your enemies.” She talks about a death of aspiration and a defeated pragmatism.

Someone else talks of “Themepark St Ives”, of “tourist-takeover”. Berriman counts tourism as one of the extractive industries. Tourism has long been an economic provider – people came to sight-see both ancient stones and working mines even in the 1700s – and the way in which Cornwall has enacted its own agency and aesthetic on that industry should not be overlooked. What fragments might exist in the tourist view that can be activated? This is perhaps where Berriman’s project connects with a progressive sense of identity not as fixed in a fiction of a bounded body, but as a queer or even trans notion of beingin-relation. These ideas have been claimed as the intellectual ground of the Euro-North American posthumanists like Bruno Latour and Isabelle Stengers. But as Indigenous writers such as Zoe Todd have argued, these theories of relation are grounded in world views that were suppressed by the old European concepts of identity and nationalism. That is, the idea of a fixed “identity” in the way that has shaped Cornish (and every other) “nation”bounded identity is itself a product of the repressive European worldview. As historian Kenneth Lunn urged readers: “we need to recognise…that national identity has always been a constructed identity” and we need to move “beyond a simplistic evocation of historical identity to acknowledge the constancy of active formation and reformation” (1996: 83). If the conceptual basis for Cornish identity is reliant on an oppressive worldview that atomised complexity and fluidity into fixed identity, then what now? Indigenous rights lawyer and scholar Gabriel Galanda has argued, “nationhood terminology was superimposed upon Indigenous societies by European colonies […] in order to justify settler dispossession on Indigenous homelands under international legal process, particularly treatymaking” (2023, 9). He calls for activation of an Indigenous concept of relational kinship that is not fixed as state or as identity governed primarily by descent. Instead, it is shaped by ties of responsibility and by physical and human/non-human relations grounded in reciprocal obligation. It is this sense of ties, relation and obligation – the arcs rather than the nodes, the bindings rather than the objects – that Berriman’s work manifests.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Cornishness started to take shape as a ‘glocal’ antiEnglishness – England as shorthand for power, oppression, capitalism, coloniality, extraction – a disrupter of continuous cultural heritage (MacDonald et al, 1986). Cornish minority status took on value as a lever for funding. In bypassing Englishness, since 2000, Cornwall unlocked one billion pounds in EU funding1. Cornwall’s Brexit breakdown was 54% leave/ 48% remain. And since leaving Europe, Cornwall is on course to receive far less than half that2 With Brexit, Cornwall becomes ever more dependent on English tourism, but perhaps that intensification becomes the oxygen to fuel a resurgent Cornish cultural identity. Identities are semantic and definitional rather than essentially fixed in blood, descent and language.

And things change. Joanie Willett (2013) outlines a socio-political understanding of Cornish 1 https://cornwallforeurope.org/funding/ 2 https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/cornwall-set-less-half-replacement-6950559

yw honaniethow a-der stag yn essensek yn goos, linyeth ha tavas.

Ha taklow a janj. Joanie Willett (2013) a dhelin aswonvos socyo-politek a “dhyffrans” kernewek – livrel, erbynn fols Lavur/Gwithyasel Pow Sows; keltek, erbynn an anglo-sowsnekter (dre vras) a Bow Sows: Methodek, a-der Anglikan. An niveryans 2021 rag an kynsa prys a’n jeves gwarthevyans a “gryjyans vyth,” ha glas re beu Kernow lemmyn dres nebes bledhynnyow, dre vynsow bras dres eghen, saw gans moy a skoodhyans rag Lavur. An dualiethow gordhetermys a honanieth kernewek a’s tevydh edhom a janjya. Res vydh dhe’n devnydh maynek a honanieth avel savla a enebieth omblegya. Praktisyow gonisogethel ha methodys kettestenek nowydh (nowydh koth? Nowydh nevra a bes? Daswrys hag eylgylghys) a dal sordya.

Berriman a dhyght kestadhel ragdres yn Kresen Kernow mis Hedra 2022. Panel a artydhyon ha skriforyon a bresent aga ober hag ena omguntel rag omgussulya a-dro dhe’n tybyansow a honanieth, a dir ha personoleth – a gernewekter – may fons i owth omworra gansa. Angeline Morrison a bresent hy diskwedhyans kovskrifek a dus dhu yn istori bretennek dre wruthyl kanon nowydh a ilow werin: namnygen re beu dyllys hy albom The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience yn-mysk gormola veur. Hi a’n henow “dashwedhla”: nyns yw an termyn eus passyes a janj mes an fordh mayth yw derivys genen (cf. Deacon). Libita Sibungu a bresent viaj telynnek dre hy fraktis hag a jun kovsrif personel gans an termyn-down keskelmys a valweyth yn Namibi ha Kernow, dre bowekter kthonek. Shelley Trower a worr an karrygi bys yn termyn hwath downna avel mell keyn Kernow. Fran Rowse a dreyl an kulwolow war vaghtethyon bal avel onan a’n boghes meyn prov ertach hag yw benow: skeusennow anedha yn koton kann ankrysadow yw treusfurvys yn skeusennow a’y farow yn gwisk-prom dinamm ow pobla tirwedhow kernewek diblans. Benenes yowynk a dhaskyv aga le – kyn fo henna war benn alsyow po yn trevbarkow – yn oll aga thekter. I a wra longya.

Yma aswonvos dhyworth an woslowysi, hwarth, unverheans ha previans kevrennys: gwiskasow daswriansek a eghennow erel a vos kernewek (“Devnydh koynt: fordh aral a omguntel, a omdomma,” yn-medh Ahmed). An hwedhlow ma yw an brewyon drudh hag a furv gonisogethow ow chanjya. An kuntel a hunrosow a bresens hag a vagel tir ha tus (Rose 2006). Mes yma rach apert gans an gowsoryon hag i dhe vos govynnys dhe efani war aga ober ha’n negys kales a longya: pandr’a yw dhe vos govynnys “a ble teudh,” hag awos hemma bos ekskludys dhyworth bos bretennek ha’n hilyow orth amal a’n kenedhlow keltek keffrys;

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh Copper Pocket Sculptures. Photo credit: Nick Cooney

“difference” – liberal, against England’s Labour/Conservative split; Celtic, against England’s (predominantly) Anglo-Saxonness; Methodist, not Anglican. The 2021 census for the first time has a predominance of “no religion,” and Cornwall has been blue for some years now, by enormous margins, but with a rise in Labour support. The overdetermined binaries of Cornish identity need change. The instrumental use of identity as an oppositional standpoint must give way. New (new old? New always-existing? Remade and recycled) cultural practices and contextualising methods must emerge.

Berriman hosts a project symposium at Kresen Kernow in October 2022. A panel of artists and writers present their work and then come together to discuss the notions of identity, of land and personhood – of Cornishness – that they have been engaging with. Angeline Morrison presents her archival presencing of Black people in British history through the creation of a new canon of folk music: her album The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience has just been released to great acclaim. She calls it “restorying”: it’s not the past that changes but the way we tell it (cf. Deacon). Libita Sibungu presents a lyrical journey through her practice that connects a personal archive with the connected deep-time of mining in Namibia and Cornwall, through a chthonic rurality. Shelley Trower takes the rocks into ever deeper time as the spine of Cornwall. Fran Rowse highlights bal maidens as one of very few heritage touchstones that are female: pictures of them in unfeasibly white cotton are transmuted into photographs of her peers in pristine prom-wear peopling distinct Cornish landscapes. Young women reclaim their place – whether cliff-tops or estates – in all their finery. They belong.

There is recognition from the audience, laughter, understanding and shared experience: iterative layerings of other kinds of Cornishness (“Queer use: another way of huddling, of keeping each other warm,” says Ahmed. These stories are the precious fragments that shape shifting cultures. The gathering of dreams of presence that entangle land and people (Rose 2006). But there is also a palpable wariness amongst the speakers as they are asked to expand on their work and on the troublesome business of belonging: what it is to be asked “where are you from,” for this to exclude one not only from Britishness but from the marginalised ethnicities of the Celtic nations, too; what it is to not have been given the keys

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh exhibition Nov-Dec 2022, Krowji, Redruth. Photo credit: Nick Cooney

pandr’a yw dhe vos heb an alhwedhow dhe “hengov.” Pub gorlavasans da y vynnas may fo neb eghen a dhihavalepter selys yn devedhyans ha bos selys yn tyller a’n jeves tu aral essensek tyckli gans sewyansow efanna rag neb dadhel a-dro dhe biw a yll bos pyth. Pan wra esel an woslowysi (hag a breder yth yw genesik bos kernewek, essensek dh’y vos ha dh’y resegva, hag a syns gre gonisogethel a vri hag a allsa bos gwelys avel gwitha porth) garma ewnheans dhe onan a’n gowsoryon (hag a henow Kernow avel konteth, yn le bro), yth yw trehwelus hag ankombrynsi yn le arwodh a’n hwarthuster kernewek heb revrons. Interrobang?! An pols a longya yn Kernow marthys benow, afinys, dashwedhlys, daswodybys yw gorfennys. Yth eson ni arta gans an rugbi ha bys gorow a Deacon.

Mes yma fenester ygerys. “Gwra oll an benenes na berdh!” yn-medh onan a’n furvlennow dasliv. Omglewans kernewek a na longya yw ygerys, le may ma tarosvannow ha tus prattys, an re nag yns gwelys ha’n re yn-dann dhor yw dynerghys dhe’n stevel ha reknans yw gelwys.

Brewyon peryllus ha gwenonek yw drudh ynwedh. Ha balweyth sten ow teklinya, arsenyk a dheuth ha bos onan a’n esporthow meur a Gernow. Devnydhys o dhe ladha gwedhanes boll y’n diwysyans ollvysel koton. Lemmyn yth yw moon gwenonek aral hag yw kevys treweythyow yn proviansow dowr. Stockys drehevyans keskniys a skoll bal – poder – re wrys nebes trevow anpossybyl dh’aga marwostla (mes, dell lever Berriman, nyns usi an devnydhyow eylgylghys ma gweth ages stockys erel). Ertach gwenonek yw rann a ertach: yma ev ena hwath hag yma edhom dh’y estenna, menystra, may hyll bos dasres dhe devyans nowydh. “Yma’n mogowyow gwag ma yn-dannon…” yn medh Sibungu yn dadhel bodkast gans Berriman. “Yma neppyth ena y’n wlaskor yn-dann dhor dhe brederi anodho.” Hi a bes:

“An pyth yw yn-dannon seulabrys hag yw nebes tewl ha martesen gwenonek ha kel. Balyow yw analogieth pur dha ragdho. …Dowr a yll bos pompys war-ji, ni a yll mos dhe golonnen a’n Norvys, ha tomder a yll sevel ha neppyth sostenadow a allsa dos dhyworto. Mes dhe’m brys vy yma neppyth a-dro dhe’n grond na – ha henn yw prag yth yw an keskowsow ma mar bosek – ha martesen henn a wra agan gweres ow tri an eghennow ma a dhevnydhyow po rannow dhe’n golow: pandr’a hwer yn-dannon, dhe gomprehendya an rannow gwenonek keffrys. Yw an rannow poder ha’n rannow gwastys na rann a wruthyl ha drehevel sel?”

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh Symposium, Kresen Kernow. Sovay Berriman in foreground Photo credit: Sovay Berriman

to “tradition”. Every well-intentioned assertion that there is some kind of difference based in descent and being rooted in place has a tricky essentialist flipside that has broader implications for any discussion of who can be what. When an audience member for whom Cornishness is inherent, intrinsic to his being and to his career, and who holds a significant cultural position that might be seen as gatekeeping, shouts a correction to one of the speakers (who calls Cornwall a county, rather than a country) it is jarring and disturbing rather than emblematic of that irreverent Cornish humour. It is, for him, an automatic response to the diminution of Cornwall. Interrobang?! The moment of belonging in a heavily female, nuanced, restoryed, retheorised Cornwall is ended. We are back with Deacon’s rugby and maleness.

Yet a window is opened. “Make all those women bards!” reads one of the feedback forms. A Cornish sense of not-belonging is opened up, in which ghosts and tricksters, the overlooked and the underground are admitted into the room and a reckoning is invited.

Dangerous and toxic fragments are precious too. As tin-mining declined, arsenic became one of Cornwall’s great exports. It was used to kill boll weevil in the global cotton industry. Now it is another toxic extraction that shows up in water supplies. Corroded mine-waste building blocks – mundic – have made some homes unmortgageable (though, as Berriman points out, these recycled materials are no worse than other blocks). Toxic heritage is a part of heritage: it is still there and needs to be extracted, reckoned with, before it can be given over to new growth. “There’s these empty caverns below us …” Sibungu says in a podcast discussion with Berriman. “There’s something there in the subterranean realm to think about.” She continues:

“What’s already under us that’s quite murky and maybe toxic and hidden. Mines are a really good analogy for it. …Water can be pumped in, we can go to the Earth’s core, and heat can come up and something sustainable could come through. But I think there’s something about that base – which is why these conversations are really important – that perhaps helps us bring these kinds of materials or components into light: what is going on under there to include those toxic parts as well. Are those rotten parts and those eroded parts part of making and building a foundation?”

MESKLA | Brewyon Drudh Rubbish Symposium, Kresen Kernow. L-R: Libita Sibungu, Dr Shelley Trower, Dr Angela Piccini. Photo credit: Sovay Berriman

A yll mappa down kernewek a dyller ha golok hag a gomprehend gonyow, gwelyow, trevow growan, treveglosyow arvorel komprehendya keffrys klubys nos, gwydh sans, fordhow, kyttrinvaow, remenantys gwenonek, kitsch kregyn, an bollardys growan park kerri hag yw kevys didhanus gans Berriman ha Sibungu? A yll an deray a vos y’n tyller ma presentya possybyltas moy avonsys? Ober Sovay Berriman gans kober plommer dasberghennys ha gravyansow “atal” kuntellek a gavanedh an dhevedhegieth dhismygel kernewek ma. Nowydh-nag-yw-nowydh, na dhyworth travyth. Dasusys. Ny wra estennans avonsya bythkweth: gesys yw an folsyow ha’n torrow ha’n skoll. Fatel yllyn kelmi war-barth brewyon drudh dhe greftya gonisogeth ha honanieth, styr ha longyans, tennans, dhyworth an re gesys? Yth yw dalleth dhe attendya dhe fatel yw gonisogeth kernewek gwrys ha gans piw, hag yn kettermyn diskudha an darnow gorth hag a woderr hag an hwedhel ertach erbysek ha’n huni dashengovekhes, ow taskorra ha dasvoghhe an pyth re beu ena pub prys. An termyn a dheu a ertach kernewek yw, re beu hag a vydh bys vykken gorth, mes yth yw chanjus yn tiblans, gans lies penn, kepar hag arghans bew – gwedhyn kepar ha lithium – keffrys ha growan yn ter.

Can a Cornish deep map of place and vista that includes moorlands, farmlands, granite towns, coastal villages also include nightclubs, clootie trees, roads, bus stops, toxic remnants, seashell kitsch, the granite carpark bollards that Berriman and Sibungu laugh over? Can the messiness of being in this place present a more progressive set of possibilities? It is this Cornish speculative futurism that Sovay Berriman’s work with reclaimed plumber’s copper and collective “rubbish” sculptures occupies. New-not-new, not from nothing. Reused. Extraction never really moves on: it leaves its fissures and fractures and waste. How might we bind together precious fragments to craft culture and identity, meaning and belonging, traction, from the leftovers? Paying attention to how Cornish heritage is created and who by is a start, while revealing the stubborn chunks that disrupt both the economic heritage narrative and the re-traditionalized one, reinserting and reaugmenting what has always been there. The future of Cornish heritage is intractable, has always been, will always be, but it is decidedly mutable, many-headed, mercurial – lithium lithe – as well as insistently granite.

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