‘places remember events’ (ongoing)

The first year I travelled to the Somme with my Kodak Box Brownie No 2, I began taking photographs of landscapes, searching for evidence, clues that revealed traces of history; that of a devastated terrain of the Great War. Assumptions were shattered, the idea of the River Somme was elusive. The meandering river, at times, was hardly identifiable as a river; it was fenland, marshy with many ponds. I imagined these ponds were bomb craters now filled with water.

I had seen many photographs of heavily bombed landscapes showing the destruction created by war, and these I held in my imagination. At the time of these visits, there was no war in Ukraine.

In the 21st century the Somme is a domesticated watery landscape of interconnected ponds, with an abundance of fishing opportunities, small bridges and rickety walkways, holiday sheds, caravans and tents. Areas were fenced off to define ownership, or were identified by the presence of care of manicured spaces. The setting was tranquil, vegetation abundant, trees had flourished in the water logged environment and nurtured vistas had been created, forming private sheltered enclosed spaces. Far from remembered the war torn vistas.