Capturing the well-tested ways of yore
AN EAST London photographer’s fascination with rural French artisans who choose to farm and create using time-tested methods has led to her first photographic exhibition at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery called “The Life That I Have Chosen” which opens this evening.
Eco-activist and writer Karen Harvey, who is part of an environmental teaching programme at Mpongo Private Game Reserve, is writing a book celebrating these artisans, who by choice have taken up traditional tools and methods to do their work rather than opting for the modern way of doing things.
The result is an evocative collection of images capturing the wholesome, no-frills lifestyle of the rural Ardèche region of France, which contrast with the sophistication and modernity of the street photographs she captured in Paris.
“I lived in France for five years before moving to East London in 2014, and I fell in love with the way people in rural France live. Earlier this year I went back to take photographs for the book.
“I really believe we don’t want to lose the skills and knowledge that people have handed down over hundreds of years.”
Harvey conducted interviews with several artisans, many of whom have lived contemporary lifestyles and have deliberately chosen to harness traditional tools and methods.
“For instance, one of them keeps bees, but he does not keep them in square metal boxes, but rather in conical straw nests because that is how bees make their hives. He does it the way it was done long ago because he sees the reason behind it,” said Harvey, who also spent time with a blacksmith, a chestnut farmer and a young woman who farms cows using time-tested methods.
● The Life That I Have Chosen, supported by the Alliance Française, opens at the Ann Bryant Art Gallery at 6.30pm tonight and will be up until October 6. —