Hainuo He

Wildfire is often understood through its visible destruction: burned vegetation, blackened ground and damaged landscapes. But in peatlands, fire can also reveal a slower and less visible problem — the loss of water.

This project began at Dava Moor in Scotland, where peatland is affected by drainage, changing weather conditions and increasing pressure from wildfire. When peat becomes drier, vegetation and organic matter can become more vulnerable to burning, while changes beneath the surface are difficult to see.

Peatland Trace Archive explores how these slow environmental changes can be made visible through material. Instead of designing a system to prevent or control wildfire, I developed a series of porous material modules and placed them within different peatland conditions. Water, soil, vegetation, weather and time gradually interact with the modules, leaving physical traces of the landscape.

The modules are not designed to remain unchanged. Cracking, staining, moss growth, fibre movement, decay and other changes become part of the archive. By comparing how the same material responds to wet and dry conditions, the project creates a record of how the landscape changes over time.

The archive is therefore not a finished collection of objects. It is an ongoing process shaped by the landscape itself.

Here, the landscape is not simply the context of the project. It becomes the maker.