Save The Middlewick Ranges : Art Exhibition

1 Nov

I had a selection of images displayed in the Save The Middlewick Ranges Art Exhibition, at Colchester LEAF: Climate Community Centre, during October and into November. A show to highlight how important this site is and what’s at stake, should the proposed plan to build 1000 houses there go ahead.

This exhibition features the work from local artists, photographers, poets, sound artists, videographers and ecologists. All united by their mutual passion to see this area protected, along with the wildlife found there, rather than have it destroyed and turned to concrete and housing.

Three additional non macro images to provide some wider context for Middlewick’s importance

I have a particularly strong connection with the Wick as it's an area where I spent a lot of time as a child. The wildlife there helped cement my interest in the natural world, particularly a fascination for invertebrates. When I became interested in photography later on and started photographing the wildlife there, It gradually dawned on me just how special this place was. There were species here that I couldn’t find anywhere else locally and that was mainly because the habitat is so unique.

With this abundance of wildlife to photograph I understandably spent a lot of time there from that point onwards. By the time the development proposal was announced, I was already acutely aware of the area's ecological importance, both locally and nationally. It was clear from the very beginning, when the proposal concept plans were shown to the public in a consultation, that this importance was either being overlooked or ignored entirely. Something that has continued in the years that followed and shows no signs of stopping to this day.

So to have some wallspace to showcase my photography in this group show was a real honour and the importance of which is something that goes far beyond merely displaying photos for people to view.

When choosing the images to display in the exhibition I knew I wanted to focus mainly on the macro side of my photography as this is an area that I particularly enjoy. Not only that but invertebrates often get overlooked, due to their small scale, so this was an opportunity to bring them to the forefront and highlight their importance. Some of my criteria when choosing the images to hang was to select work that might be visually eye-catching on a wall, uncover hidden detail that most people wouldn’t have seen before or highlight a species that I consider to be synonymous with Middlewick in some way. I included three additional, non macro, images to complete my section of the show. These all had stories attached to them, with the skylark photo in particular, vividly illustrating the sickening depths the land owners will stoop, in order to rid the area of wildlife and prepare it for a future sale. More information can be found about that in this video and its description.