The Friday Walks, with Man in the Woods

We’re now well underway with regular programming for our podcast series, Absolute Units, hosted by MERL curator Ollie Douglas and myself, and supported by Arts Council England through our partnership with Reading Museum.

After our previous episodes with the fantastic environmental historian Dolly Jørgensen, this episode we speak with Bristol-based artist Scott, best-known online as Man in the Woods. We discuss Scott’s practice of exploring and documenting rural England, his art inspired by his walks and finds, and how this kind of process can help us to rethink and gently rebuild our sense of ourselves in contemporary 21st-century England.

To accompany the podcast episode, check out several of Man in the Woods’ artworks below that he generously provided this purpose. At the end, find links to follow Man in the Woods online, and see how you can support his work and our podcast.

Artworks by Man in the Woods

The Beast, an artwork by Man in the Woods, of a very large cow: a dark silhouette against a rural background of field and hills.

A sampler decorated with trees and cows. It says 'The cows were all at the gate. There was an old woman sitting on the bridge. She said you don't want to have regrets in life. She told me to get a nice big stick. She said I reminded her of her son. The cows chased me into a willow tree.'

A poster with graphics of hedgehogs, that reads 'hedgehog extravaganza. Hedgehog info + facts. Hedgehog crafts. Guess the name of hedgehog. Tombola. Raffle. Hedgehog t-shirts 4 sale. Village hall 1st Saturday of June. What do you know about hedgehogs? What do I eat? Am I a rodent? Why am I called a hedgehog? Come and find out.'

A poster with a very large child towering over a very small dog that has just done a poo. The child stands menacingly by a bin. The caption reads: 'A message from the children of Codford: you better bin it.'

A hassock of a black horse, stood in a field with a rural backdrop.

Follow Man in the Woods

Find more of Man in the Woods’ work on Instagram, TikTok, and Bluesky. Check out his beautiful prints and merch on his online shop.

Listen to Absolute Units

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Have a topic request, or doing research that you think would be a great fit for an episode? Let me know!

Thank you <3