Multiple exposure digital photographs.
Created during GroundWork Gallery Residency, summer 2024.
Exhibited as part of the ‘Ground Up’ exhibition at GroundWork Gallery, autumn/winter 2024.

I was delighted to be selected to take part in the GroundWork Gallery ‘Ground Up’ residency in the summer of 2024.

A gallery dedicated to art and environment, GroundWork’s annual residency focuses on extraction - what is removed from the earth via extraction, excavation, dredging, mining, foraging, etc. and why; the effects of extraction on any ecological system; and the best means to draw attention to extraction.

During the course of the residency research week I was struck by the range of human interaction with nature in the landscapes we visited. Two places we visited stood out, largely because they appear so wildly different on the surface. 

The Palm Paper mill on the outskirts of King’s Lynn is a very human construction. And yet, it is deeply connected with the environment, recycling thousands of tonnes of paper every year, repurposing waste that might otherwise end up in landfill, and meaning fewer trees need to be cut down to fuel our need for paper products. 

Wild Ken Hill appears at first glance to be the epitome of the natural - a beautiful, wild idyll. But, of course, there is human intervention here. Nature is being encouraged to grow and thrive, tended and stewarded by people, who are carefully working to regenerate the soil and care for the land.

These two places challenged my perceptions of what is ‘human’ and what is ‘nature’, leading me to consider the potential role of humans as active participants in the wider ecosystem we are part of, and the possibility of a more reciprocal relationship with the natural world.

An adapted version of the talk about this project that I presented at the Ground Up Conference on 16th November 2024 can be found on my blog.