This page shows initial research undertaken towards assignment five until I realised I did not have the time to complete it nor was it probably the ideal time of year to begin an exploration of local allotments.
Initial Idea
I touted the idea of looking at the increased use/demand for allotments due to financial constraints and peoples desire to be ‘green’.
Russell sent me some interesting links to research.
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/visit/past-exhibitions/allotment-life#image-2
Britain has a long history of people growing their own food. A need for self-sufficiency during World War II resulted in many new allotments in urban areas. Now these spaces are as popular as ever and people’s reasons for using them have diversified along with the food produced. Allotment Life uses indoor and outdoor exhibitions of photography and food to explore Londoners’ relationships with their allotments.
In Gallery Square, photographs by artist Emma Wood, capture life on two local allotments over a year of growing. The exhibition explores people’s motivations for having a plot and their relationships with each other and their crops. In many ways, allotments like these have become important social spaces for urban integration in London.
Plot holders talk about the health benefits of physical labour and fresh food. Others are motivated by cutting carbon, by financial savings or by having control over how their food is grown. Having an allotment also allows city dwellers to connect with nature. The best thing for many issocialising with a diverse range of people andswapping their tips, traditions and crops.
Outside, visitors can explore the Allotment Life vegetable garden, inspired by the allotment holders featured in this exhibition.
Which was good to know that this has been done before so I can formulate my own ideas and reference a body of work.
https://www.emmawoodphotos.co.uk/portfolio/allotment-life/
These were the kind of images I was looking to take but adding an extra dimension…maybe images alongside of the products they were growing and researching the recent price increases in supermarkets.
http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/ambient-landscape
Martin Herbert looks at the use of English landscape, from J B Priestley to Andrew Cross’s film series An English Journey.
Basically images trying to capture the English scenery with a historical/nostalgic bent.
http://www.mikemarshall.co.uk/work/photography/
Didn’t do much for me…….varied bodies of work, he uses different media formats, moving images and stills, for various bodies of work. Some include use of landscape.
Had a superb varied portfolio of gardens, people, food etc all of which were great inspiration and provided ideas of different focal lengths perspectives and ways to portray certain subjects.
Highlighted the fact that there us a National Allotments Week! Loved the photo essay and again the images echo what I had in mind….
Some historical context
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/MCR/article/view/18086/19410
really interesting snippets of why and how allotments came into use.
I really wanted to do this project but decided that it was probably the wrong time of year to start this, I think most allotments would no longer be growing things, the weather was starting to close in and I did not have enough time to approach the necessary authorities or allotment owners.
Jan's Foray into Documentary 