6 March — 7 June 2026

 EARTH-
STEPPER

David John Scarborough



ENTER
Earth-Stepper
A virtual landscape unfolding as a folk fable.
David John Scarborough
6 March - 7 June 2026
Free, Online


Presented online with Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, David John Scarborough’s digital installation follows a mythic family and a host of animal voices on a pilgrim’s journey through ecology, kinship, and burial. Staged across videoworks, soundtracks and virtual worlds, Earth-Stepper presents a series of digital dioramas informed by personal loss and climate renewal. The exhibition considers virtual space not as a site of escapism, but as a place of lament and reconnection in which to imagine an inclusive, alternative British folk tradition. David presents an interactive virtual reality world that invites audiences on a mythopoetic journey. 
The world is composed of wetlands, gardens and burial mounds housing texts and sounds that take shape as guests navigate through space. Stemming from a folktale with contemporary resonance, the story follows a mother and son as they carry a father’s body back to his homeland. Unable to enter, they bury him outside the gates with three seeds in his mouth, from which a forest grows. The story branches out through songs and screens, invoking videogame walkthroughs and electronic folk tunes. Across the digital installation, beetles rejoice, butterflies grieve and rabbits tell tales, rekindling the Old English wordhoard — a shared reservoir of story and song, carried forward by the community.
About David John Scarborough
David John Scarborough is a British-Australian artist based in Charnwood, East Midlands, UK. His practice navigates the desire lines between technology, ecology, and music, drawing from autobiography, heritage, and natural history. He creates environments that integrate multidimensional narratives, visuals, and sounds to explore the knotty relationships between language and land. From video games set in underground forests to visual albums crafted from samples and stock footage, each project functions as a living archive that reimagines a more generous British folk tradition through stories and songs.He has exhibited with Haarlem Artspace (Wirksworth), Phoenix Cinema (Leicester), LCB Depot (Leicester), Fermynwoods Contemporary Art (Northamptonshire), Brooke Benington (Slough), Turf Projects (Croydon), Nottingham Museum & Art Gallery and BACKLIT (Nottingham). He has undertaken research and residencies with New Media Art Club, Six Minutes Past Nine and AA2A at Nottingham Trent University.



Credits & Production Details:

Earth-Stepper was created through research developed with AA2A at Nottingham Trent University, Modern Painters, New Decorators, Morphe Arts, New Media Art Club, Six Minutes Past Nine, and was supported by Arts Council England and Near Now.

Artist: David John Scarborough
Animation: Ama Dogbe
Guitar: Issac Robinson
Vocals: Claire Lleshi
Vocal Dubbing (‘Flowers Gone’): Tayler Fisher
Basteleur by Keussel. Distributed by velvetyne.fr.




Sources & References:

 Earth-Stepper interpolates ideas, excerpts and samples from:

adam amir - Seasoning A Kid: A Search for a Practice of Place
Dr Anne-Marie Jean - Material Nature
Daisy Black - The Time of the Tree: Returning to Eden after the Fall in the Cornish Creacion of the World
Jeremy Harte - The Mystery of the Green Man
J.R.R. Tolkien - The Riders of Rohirrim
Pete Seeger - Where Have All The Flowers Gone?
Pete Seeger - Where Have All The Flowers Gone?, arr. Sybarite5
Robbie Arnott - Limberlost
Robert Macfarlane - Landmarks
Robert Macfarlane - The Old Ways
Samuel Beckett - Waiting For Godot
Sarah White - The Quivering Ocean: The Paintings of Magdalena Gluszak-Holeska
Stephen Foster - Slumber My Darling, arr. Charnwood Community Choir
Unknown - The Wanderer, tr. Dr. Ophelia Eryn Hostetter
It also features excerpts of interviews with Corita Kent, Robert Macfarlane and David George Haskell

     


Top ↑