Finding Fangorn is a new-media/photographic project developed by David Lockwood in partnership with The Mersey Forrest 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 project started with a search to find new outdoor places to visit and discover with his son, Hugo and draws on this experience of actively looking for what is left of old woodland spaces within Metropolitan Liverpool to explore and act out a child’s make-believe scenarios. Fangorn as in Tolkien’s ‘Fangorn Forrest’ 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 and whilst Finding Fangorn explores photography’s innate ability to document experiences, 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. Capturing the paradoxes and juxtapositions as we recognise their importance then continually challenge their existence.
The work was displayed as a temporary exhibition on interactive iPads in the foyer at the Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool Albert Dock, in October and November 2017 – https://openeye.org.uk/whatson/finding-fangorn/
To support the project, visitors can also pick up the ‘Finding Fangorn’ map which highlights the work and can be used to identify and explore the fourteen woods used in the project themselves.
Finding Fangorn Map
On the 6th November David will be speaking about the project at the ‘Trees, Woods and People’ event at the Gallery – http://www.artinliverpool.com/events/open-eye-gallery-trees-woods-and-people/
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 – www.treecharter.uk/sign
Visit www.findingfangorn.com for the full project site.
