Fractures (2024)

Dating back to the c.7000 BCE Wiseman’s Wood is one of Britian’s last remaining temperate rainforests. It is thought to be the remains from a once vast ancient forest covering much of Dartmoor. Whilst constituting less than 1% of land mass in the UK, temperate rainforests are also one of most biodiverse habitats in the UK and Wistman’s Wood is home to many rare species of mosses and lichens that exist in few places elsewhere. However, it is threatened by overgrazing from sheep and cattle, fire, disease, climate change and trampling by people. 

​

Fractures is a series of analogue photographs of Wiseman’s Wood captured using an antiquated field camera. Working with 5 x 4 black and white negatives, I physically erase areas of the images by applying black ink directly onto my sheet negatives. The black masking on my negatives when printed, reverses itself as a white void. My hand painted interventions leave isolated and disjointed areas of the negative untouched, much like the fragmented ecosystem in Wistman’s Wood.