Keeping on keeping on

Keeping on keeping on

Nearly a year ago, I wrote an article for this site about a group of photographers in the North East who were running a project to record local life at agricultural shows, called Agri[Culture]. I found them at Wolsingham Show last September, and a couple of days later, I interviewed Louise Taylor to get some background on the people and the project. Wideyed is the name they work under.

And you might expect that Covid-19 would have brought all of their work to a stop: but that hasn’t happened. While there’s no chance to continue the photography this year, the group has been active in promoting their work, and the culture of the shows, with outdoor exhibitions and a book.

And a photography competition. For all the people who would normally enter crafts, cakes or anything else in a country show, there’s the chance to enter pictures of their crafts in a competition.

Last year, The Woolybills and I loved the way that the group used a sheep trailer for a travelling exhibition, which they’d towed around a number of shows in the area. The approach is ideally suited to keeping things rolling during Covid-19, because the trailer is an outdoor venue, making it easy for people to see the pictures without venturing into a building with all the contact risks that involves.

The show will be on view in Teesdale and Weardale, the areas recorded in the Agri[Culture] project. I’ll provide more details when I have them, for anyone interested, and if you want to know more about any aspect of this, please contact me, and I can put you in touch with the Wideyed team.