Northern Light: Sheffield Hallam University Research Group (Sheffield Institute of Arts): Guy Moreton - Denkebewegungen

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s solitary walks in the landscape surrounding his pastoral retreat – a simple cottage or hytte – in Skjolden, on the north-west coast of Norway allowed him to ‘do philosophy’, through what he described as denkbewegungen – thinking through walking – whilst making observations of the mountainous fjord landscape that would, eventually, give him the space he needed to complete extensive and important manuscripts on logic and language.. My own walks in Skjolden, made in collaboration with the artist and poet Alec Finlay attempted to uncover something of the extraordinary character of the landscape in Skjolden, and in doing so, reveal the contemplative side of Wittgenstein. The house no longer exists; instead the ruins of the rock foundations where the house stood – stand for the possibility and the place of thought. My photographs of these pastoral landscapes attempt to ‘bring forth’ connections posed by questions about our relationship to place, and what effect places might have on us.