LONG VIEW(s)

20/21 September 2024

An experimental exhibition including works by Alys Scott-Hawkins, Gemma Gore, James Aldridge, Laura Eldret, Melanie Rose, Suna Imre, Tom Hall and artworks from the dAi (digital-Art-index)* . Taking place as part of the conference The Long View in a woodland based treehouse in Beaulieu, New Forest. The Long View(s) exhibiting artists have made their work either on location in the New Forest or have referenced a place in the Forest having visited and walked this unique landscape of ancient woodlands, heathlands and coastline. Each of these artists have been paired with historical artworks, accessible via QR codes, with each of these drawn from the dAi .

The New Forest is a place of ruler-straight ‘browse-lines,’ and intricately nibbled bark patterns alongside barrows and boundaries, indicating a place of coexistence since the Bronze Age. What we see today could have been a different story if in the 1860’s/70’s The Office of Woods (later the Forestry Commission) had been allowed to continue their systematic clear-felling of ancient trees, ‘neutralising’ a way of life in favour of an enclosed Scots pine monoculture.

The passing of the 1877 New Forest Act, which is still in place today, is considered ‘landmark legislation’ marking a shift from an economic to a social-cultural view of natural environments, a view that was simultaneously taking shape in Europe and America. In her book Art and Protest Charlotte Yeldon argues that ‘art was used extensively to draw attention to the area and its inhabitants and to the benefits of public access’, noting that 305 works of art representing the Forest went on public display between 1869 and 1877. It is impossible to put an economic value on National Parks or even that of regional art galleries and museums, although the altruism of the wealthy industrialist to uphold places of learning has now vanished, the greed to enclose tracts of land is still with us. And yet, to be able to take a long view through visual narratives is innate, whether welcoming the harvest, appealing to a wider audience or depicting change, the value is in communicating what is happening now as an often-inadvertent catalyst for conversation and transformation.

Critics have argued that the Victorian artists were overly romantic, but if their brief was to capture the hearts of their viewers then they made a good job of it and that the value of their paintings could be argued as unprecedented. By juxtaposing historic paintings with contemporary artworks of the same place we are reigniting the campaign. Hincheslea House for example may seem an incongruous connection, but it is located next to Hincheslea bog at Long Slade Bottom, a place with mirror-like pools, untouched since Saxon times most probably because of the longstanding but remodelled manor house. These contemporary works not only make connections back through time and place but challenge the viewer to consider “how ideas of Nature formed through extraction and classification” have over time affected such a fundamental and traumatic disconnect, to the point that reimagining ways of making whole-connections appears an impossible challenge, which is why this exhibition and The Long View conference it accompanied is of importance.

Long View(s) artwork pairings:

• Alys Scott Hawkins, Lyndhurst walk, 2024 ⟺ Theodore Hines, View in the New Forest near Lyndhurst, 1815. Oil on canvas, 66 x 87cm. Tate Collection.

• Gemma Gore, Falling, 2024 ⟺Archibald Knox, The Forest, Beaulieu c1900-1933. Watercolour on paper 43cm x 56cm. Manx Museum. 

• James Aldridge, Neuroqueering Nature (Avon Water), 2024 ⟺ Wilfrid Ball RBA, A Path in the New Forest, c1917. Watercolour collection of Arthur R. Moro.

• Laura Eldret, foreesd layiees, 2023–24 ⟺ Wilhelm Kümpel, Mark Ash, near Lyndhurst, New Forest, 1869. Oil on canvas, 45 x 60cm. Aberystwyth University School of Art Museum and Galleries.

• Melanie Rose, Hincheslea Valley Mire I, 2023 ⟺ James Chalmers, Hincheslea House, Brockenhurst, 1852. Oil on canvas 44 x 60cm. The New Forest Heritage Centre.

• Tom Hall, In Search of The Encampment: An Exercise into The Dangers of Nostalgia,2024 ⟺William Shayer, A Gypsies' Encampment,  c1860. Oil on canvas 71cm x 91.2cm. Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.

• Suna Imre, Shirley Holms, 2024 ⟺ Creswell Hartley Desmond, Ponies Crossing Boldre Bridge c1920. Oil on canvas 27 x 44cm St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery.

View The Long View conference papers for artist bios and more info on contemporary artworks.