Photo Fringe 2022: OPEN Eco

Photo Fringe invited artists to propose a single image to engage audiences and help us imagine a greener, fairer world. Artists were asked to respond to the question “How can photography make a difference to the climate crisis?”

Ancient woodland and natural habitats in the United Kingdom are declining despite the urgent need to tackle the ecological climate crisis. This project tackles how individual creative practice can respond to this collective issue and focuses on the development of the Havant Thicket Reservoir by Portsmouth Water and Southern Water. Although the reservoir aims to relieve issues of water scarcity, the construction has destroyed over 14 hectares of irreplaceable ancient woodland.
Exploring the impact prior to the start of the construction, local artist and early career academic at Solent University, Frankie Knight, connects with her local community, interviewing and photographing 11 members of the ‘Stop the Chop’ (now known as Havant Thicket for Nature) campaign group. She makes further recordings of the landscape and exhibits the photographs with a 7 minute audio piece in order to bring the people, landscape, and wildlife together in a multi-dimensional outcome.
Although a political issue, the work steers the conversation to the emotional and spiritual elements to allow for deeper engagement and reflection whilst exploring the artist’s role in fighting the destruction of natural habitats.
The project demonstrates the benefits of working in a natural environment and working with natural materials and aims to be used as an example for future projects that can help build resilience within communities against the effects of climate change.