FINDING FANGORN
26 OCTOBER – 26 NOVEMBER 2017
TEMPORARY EXHIBITION IN OUR NEW FOYER SPACE
DAVID LOCKWOOD
“Finding Fangorn started with a search to find new outdoor places to visit and discover with my son, Hugo. It draws on this experience of actively looking for what is left of old woodland spaces within Liverpool to explore and act out a child’s make-believe scenarios.
“Fangorn (from Tolkien’s ‘Fangorn Forest’) is a fantasy place and what is left of these woodland spaces are used by many to escape from the urbanisation that surrounds them through a suggestion of wilderness.
“Hugo suffers from Epilepsy with developmental delay. Whilst Finding Fangorn explores photography’s innate ability to document experiences and places, as the father of a disabled child, it is also through exploration, discovery and imaginative play, about finding Hugo.”
Whilst the heart of the project is photographing Hugo at play within the woods, it also extends to documenting the spaces themselves and the visual relationship they have with their urban surroundings.
The work will be displayed at Open Eye Gallery from Thursday 26th October to Sunday 26th November 2017 in the foyer area. You can also collect a free ‘Finding Fangorn’ map which highlights some of the work and can be used to identify and visit the fourteen woods used in the project.
Finding Fangorn has been developed in partnership with The Mersey Forest and is a Charter Branch of the new 2017 ‘Charter for Trees, Woods and People’ campaign led by the Woodland Trust – www.treecharter.uk.
The Charter for Trees, Woods and People will guide policy and practice and set out the rights and responsibilities of the people of the UK to their trees. It will launch on the 6th November, the 800th anniversary of the 1217 Charter of the Forest. The new Tree Charter will draw its strength from the hundreds of thousands of people across the UK that sign it in 2017. To add your name, head here.
Visit www.findingfangorn.com for the full project site.