OPEN ECO: Luke Spencer, Untitled, Larkfield Way, 2022
Luke Spencer is a visual artist and writer based on the South Coast of England. In his creative practice, he looks to engage with our sensory relationship with nature through a curiosity of how mindfulness approaches, such as somatic and regenerative methods can benefit our health and connection to the Earth. As well as providing a space for difficult emotions such as anxiety to be to be heard and healed.
Luke says: 'Connecting, back with my childhood relationship with nature in my Grandfather's Garden in Brighton through the medium of photography, taught me a lot about community, care and reciprocity between people and place. What struck me in conversations with my Grandfather is how the common act of gardening can break down so many of our perceived barriers of how we tend to each other and our local communities. Through exploring this mutual connection to place, our conversations became an exchange of knowledge, experiences and vulnerability helping us to grow our relationship not only with the land but with each other'.
'For me, this is where photography can make a difference to the climate crisis by deepening our connection with both the human and non-human worlds we inhabit. Offering a hopeful space to see ourselves as part of nature, not separate from it. Allowing for communal spaces that not only nourish our health and wellbeing but inspire action in restoring the Earth and our broken relationship with the Planet.'
Photo Fringe invited artists to propose a single image to engage audiences and help us imagine a greener, fairer world. Artists were asked to respond to the question “How can photography make a difference to the climate crisis?"
The resulting outdoor exhibition of selected images by nineteen artists can be found on Brighton seafront next to the Upside Down House until 17 November 2024.
See all of the images together here
Created with funding from Arts Council England National Lottery Project Fund and the UK government and Brighton & Hove City Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. With print sponsorship from SAS Graphics.
Thanks to our judges Siân Berry, MP and Laura Summerton, Photography Manager, WaterAid.