John's Field

I have been considering the ecological crisis we are deep within, and seeking to explore that in a small, intimate way through a portrait of a particular farmer’s field.

He takes a slow approach as he clears his field of scrub and briar, what is remarkable is what he leaves standing. I seek to open up who the agents are and what might be at play in his husbandry.

The new sublime we seem to be trapped within, as the age of the Anthropocene consolidates, is of such a scale it threatens to overwhelm us. Images of the Anthropocene, almost always from a drone, float such considerations away from our control. These small trees, these careful uncoverings, in one human scale field, seem to point to an alternative I am curious to explore. A deep sense of time pervades the site. The farmer’s husbandry was evident, even curatorial in nature.

I have expanded this project of late, looking at two other men and their relationship to their land. In both, there are considerations of the others we share the land with, the relationship with the wild being central to their practice.

Handmade book and series of prints.

A selection shown in Made X NW, The Dock, 2022