Fergus Heron, Common 2010 - 2011 Portfolio

These pictures are made on an ongoing basis in a large common in the south east of England. The common is also an extensive nature reserve, recreational resource and lowland heath, one of the oldest forms of British landscape. It is a place with a military past where Queen Victoria inspected British troops upon departure for the Crimea. It was also used as a location for films such as Lawrence of Arabia and Superman II. Therefore, this work documents visible natural changes in a landscape that embodies social, political and cultural histories beyond its appearance. The common is photographed from a point that enables a view of the landscape, alternately revealed and concealed throughout the seasons. The work aims through emphasis upon change and continuity to depict place, and how we see it, as complex, shifting and uncertain.