175 x 250mm, 108 pages, Colour printing, Perfect bound, Softcover, 2022

 From expansive forests to imprisoned arenas, virtual worlds and domestic borders, land is a term malleable and applicable to a multitude of conditions, dependent on who or what is defining it.

When the phrase is approached critically in conversation, crucial yet prevalent categories tend to take lead, such as land-use, management, ownership, and economy. A comfortable space for debate and discussion is created when land is discussed through these lenses, a space that can unknowingly slip into an echo chamber.

Hosted in -ism’s native Glasgow, COP26 reflected this tendency. The annual event, held to develop global agreements for the climate emergency, reconfirmed the polarising distance between the pedestal from which reigning narratives around land are voiced, and those who are most affected by ongoing ecocide. Key indigenous communities remained underrepresented, whilst politicians and oligarchy arrived at the event on carbon-polluted private jets. An awareness of these circumstances motivated the theme for this issue, where -ism sought to expand and explore further definitions, interpretations, and approaches to Land.

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