Land Portal

Land Portal is a walking tour and published resource by artists Ellie Irons and Aubrie James that reveals ecological and geological features throughout deCordova’s Sculpture Park. Through this project, Irons and James aim to “foster a sense of place (in space, and in time) by calling attention to the ‘background’—the vast, alive, and ever-transforming ‘negative space’ that makes up the parts of the museum and park that are not sculptures or artworks.”

By following their annotated map, visitors are drawn to lesser-known environmental sites of deCordova’s campus, including unique tree specimens, remnants of earlier agricultural land use, and bedrock shaped by glacial sheets. At each station, visitors can follow a series of activations to connect sky and earth and ground themselves further within the surrounding landscape.