In 2023, along with my partner, I took on an allotment. 

It had been a long-held dream; to have a patch of greenery, away from the noise and bustle of the urban environment, on which to rest, breathe fresher air, be with and learn from nature and to of course, grow food.

I began blogging about the experience, sharing this only with friends on social media. I didn’t intend for it to become an art project. However, a link began to emerge between photographing the allotment for documentation and photographing it to capture its ‘Sense of Place’, and how I revered it and felt within its calmness, which in turn relates to Psychogeography.

Later, I reflected on the act of gardening itself.  In my blog post ‘Being In and Out: A Conversation’, I state (when contemplating my documentation of the annual summer holiday) 

‘But then I am not one without the other; I am not Emma without being an artist. Being an artist is being Emma. So, whenever I’m away, I’ll take photographs, make sound recordings or draw. It’s a compulsive act; recording the experience of ‘being in’ and ‘experiencing’ a place.’

The following selection of blog posts, chart the allotments’ development throughout the years and seasons, our attachment to it, and the ‘art and craft’ of gardening, such as space design, crafting plant supports or compost heaps. This experience of ‘being in’ and ‘experiencing’ a place, also ties in with a project I delivered for a residency in 2022, which I called ‘Living In the Outdoors’; which so happened to take place on this very set of allotments, and inspired the decision to apply for an allotment of our own. 

For the ‘Living In the Outdoors’ project, we explored just that. On the allotment used for the residency, we made our own charcoal from wood found on site, which we used to draw the surrounding trees, and we cooked our Jacket Potato lunch in the wood bin. 

With our allotment, we view it as an extension of home and have developed a deep connection with it. We ‘live’ there. We rest with flasks of tea and coffee, we stay until the last of the light and on into the night, we build temporary shelters with tarpaulin, we chat to our neighbours, human and animal. The ‘art’ is integrated with our daily life and once again, the act of being an artist and being myself is inseparable.