Overview

Overview forms part of a project undertaken in the Tamar Valley. Primarily based around the river Tamar, which separates the counties of Devon and Cornwall, the Tamar Valley is an area of particular historical and cultural significance. Occupied for centuries, particularly during the industrial revolution when it became one of the most excavated and exploited landscapes in Europe, the significance of the area’s mining history is recognised in its listing as a World Heritage site. Redevelopment in the 20th century, with large sections of the land being devoted to forestry and agriculture, has contributed to the Valley’s designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The transition from the industrialisation of past to the apparent beauty of the present was one of the factors that initially drew me to the Valley. With a fairly loose agenda I set out to explore the post-industrial landscape, considering concepts of space, place, and time.

The first phase of this exploration involved the use of drone photography and videography as a means to survey the landscape. The images presented here follow a course Southwards, from the upper part of the valley above Gunnislake, downstream to the village of Calstock. They provide perspectives on the meandering river and the valley that it has carved, the disused mine workings and abandoned industrial settlements, the precipitous viewpoints popularised by tourists in the Victorian era and the post-industrial spaces now reclaimed through forestry. They reveal a complex and beautiful environment, rich in history and in a continual state of transition, both through natural process and human intervention.

The 2nd part and conclusion of this project in the Tamar Valley is featured in 'Understory', being exhibited as part of the Masters Show 2017 at Plymouth College of Art from September 5th.