Exhibited at Talking Sense - The changing vocabulary of mind and brain, Portico Library, Manchester,  Jan - April 2020.

A booklet made for the exhibition containing a selection of photography and creative writing about Chigwell Row Wood in Essex by children from a local primary school.

Photography and creative writing — work originally devised and delivered as Community Artist (Epping Forest District Council), shown at the school and online, 2006/7. In partnership with Epping Forest CountryCare, EFDC.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The wood is very close to the school but most of the children had never been there. The children explored the wood, took photos and wrote about their experience.

The children's photography and creative writing were shown online via an interactive aerial image of the wood — clicking on different areas of the image revealed their perspective on the forest and what they had seen and experienced there, creating an informative and engaging online resource.

When we were walking through the forest I saw a pond. On the pond there was duckweed. I really liked the colour it reminded me of pine. There were wildlife living near the pond such as dragonflies, newts, woodpeckers, frogs, squirrels and deers but we never saw them. The pond was still like the ground. It looked very dirty it had a chair, cap and shoes thrown in the pond. There were lots of different shadows from the trees. The plants in the pond were completely different from the plants in the wood. Some of the trees have been there for more than 100 years. I really liked it. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Z, 9

Feathers are scattered on the ground. They are blue and black and white. A fox attacked a bird and all that was left were his feathers. Did the bird escape? H, 9

When we went to the forest I took a picture of a horse and the colour of the background was light green, dark green, dark brown, white and blue. Behind the horse was a very old oak tree. In the background you could see Canary Wharf's shadow. The horses tail was about a meter long. In the picture you could see another white horse. There were lots of trees and the trees had lots of shadows and it made you think it was night. The oak tree was about 150 years old. On the floor there were so many twigs and the horses were eating the grass. It was nice to be surrounded by wildlife even though we were so close to London. A, 9

I chose this picture because I think it's interesting that the tree is cut in half and all you can see is orange fungus. It's an oak tree. The fungus is all around the tree and on the ground. It's interesting to know what is inside a tree. You can see the tiny spiders in the tree. The leaves are stuck on the tree. The fungus looks like the shape of a pear and it is nearly the same colour as a pear. You can eat some fungus but I don't think you could eat this type. Fungus comes in different colours unfortunately I didn't see any other colours. J, 9

Right at the centre of the picture is an oak tree with an old stump. There are a lot of leaves on the ground beneath the tree. The tree is very tall with 7 small branches coming off the main branch. The sun is out and it is muddy but at the sides of the tree are making it dark because of their shadows. Even though it is autumn the leaves are not brown because it isn't the end of autumn yet. It has been good being able to explore the forest and take pictures of things. The day was very interesting. S, 9