Out of Bounds
This artwork featured in BorderLands (2026). A Meadow Arts commission.
Another artwork resulting from Maya’s residency is a full-sized hedge built collaboratively by the artist and master hedge-layer Trefor Prothero, combining contemporary art practice and rural craft.
The hedgerow has a complex history, enclosing land that was once shared, before the Enclosures Act. They are now protected and cherished for their vital ecological and cultural value- when laid traditionally. Maya and Trefor’s hedge incorporates hazel sticks used during the communal Beating the Bound walks recorded in the film. The ancient custom of Beating the Bounds, practiced before drawn maps were widely used, reflects a deep relationship between communities, land and memory.
The walks traced a collective sense of belonging that exists beyond political borders and the incorporation of the stakes transform what might appear to be a barrier into a record of shared movements and connection across the BorderLands.
Images: Maya Rose Edwards, Out of Bounds, hazel, blackthorn and hawthorn. Installation view, BorderLands, Hay Castle, 2026. Image courtesy of Meadow Arts. Photographer, Finn Beales.
About the artist
Maya Rose Edwards
BorderLands exhibiting artist (15 May – 31 August 2026).
In the first year of the Borderlands project, commissioned artist Maya Rose Edwards worked with communities along the border to explore their relation to the unique place they inhabit. Across the three towns of Hay-on-Wye, Presteigne, and Kington, Maya engaged residents to join in conversations, collaborative making, and shared mapping and heritage traditions. The resulting artworks capture the physical landscape as well as the collective consciousness and memory of those who inhabit it. By reimagining the border as a living, evolving space, the work blends local history and contemporary perspectives.
The ‘BorderLands Maps’ were co-created by communities in the 3 border towns who shared and drew everyday, personal landmarks that reflect their lived experience. These new maps formed the itinerary for the performance of Beating the Bounds walks.
Another artwork resulting from Maya’s residency is a full-sized hedge built collaboratively by the artist and master hedge-layer Trefor Prothero, combining contemporary art practice and rural craft.
The hedgerow has a complex history, enclosing land that was once shared, before the Enclosures Act. They are now protected and cherished for their vital ecological and cultural value – when laid traditionally. Maya and Trefor’s hedge incorporates hazel sticks used during the communal Beating the Bound walks recorded in the film. The ancient custom of Beating the Bounds, practiced before drawn maps were widely used, reflects a deep relationship between communities, land and memory.
The walks traced a collective sense of belonging that exists beyond political borders and the incorporation of the stakes transform what might appear to be a barrier into a record of shared movements and connection across the Borderlands.