Anthology of Rural Life – Farmers of The Lizard

A photographic survey of families and individuals involved with the land, that stems from a project photographers Colin Robins & Oliver Udy have been collaborating on for over a decade. Over 20 new portraits of farmers on the Lizard, Cornwall are shown alongside photographs taken in Europe.

The Lizard peninsula in South Cornwall is a rural region with an ancient history of farming that is reflected in the large proportion of land that is still being worked today. Kestle Barton was a working farm until Boaden Lyne retired in 2005 and it took on our current multi- purpose identity. As a venue we are committed to incorporating the question of land use into our programme, and to creating opportunities to discuss relevant concerns for those living in, and visiting, our surrounding area.

The Anthology of Rural Life project that Colin Robins & Oliver Udy have been collaborating on for over a decade has been one such opportunity. Their exhibition: Anthology of Rural Life – Farmers of The Lizard (15 June – 1 September, 2024) is a photographic survey of families and individuals involved with the land. They have made over twenty new portraits of farmers on The Lizard that are juxtaposed in the gallery with photographs that they have taken in Europe. This show offers a visual insight into the lives of many different people, in many different places, that are living in rural areas and have relationships to the land they live on. The exhibition aims to develop a narrative around shifts in rural life, and some of the complexities currently facing the countryside. It also provides a recognition of the central place that farming continues to play in the social and economic landscape of the Lizard.

Dr Menelaos Gkartzios remarks, in his forward to their first book collection, The Anthology of Rural Life Vol. 1, ‘Like rural researchers, Oliver Udy and Colin Robins co-create a collection of all things that ‘make’ rural places, both visible and invisible, both material and experiential. Portraits of people and animals, landscapes, practices and experiences of the everyday. This is rural life – where people live, what jobs they do, how they spend their free time. Networks, products, houses, desires. These are all rural too.’

The complete Anthology of Rural Life project will be archived at Kresen Kernow, Redruth, Cornwall as a social and historical document.

To accompany this exhibition, is a series of Tent Talks to take place in a large marquee in the Kestle Barton meadow on the weekend of 20-21 July. These talks are free to the public and all are invited to come to discuss the timely themes they will be focused on. Please visit the website for more details.

Tent Talk I: Food systems, farming and land use is on Saturday 20 July from 11am – 5pm.
Tent Talk II: Creative practice and the land is on Sunday 21 July from 11am – 5pm.