Still Here

Explore the work of Lottie Hampson, a photographer and book maker. Lottie specialises in analogue film and development. The inspiration for her work is constantly evolving, from capturing the passing light, natural and abstract forms, and most recently and specifically, the exploration of the sky and patterns of freckled fruit. In her contribution to 'Stories within Our Isles', Lottie begins with an article, in which she narrates how the countryside has inspired her work and the meaning behind her following photography series 'Still Here'.

How has the countryside inspired you?

In so many ways. The light. Seeing the moon and the sun across the same stretch of sky. The season changes and really seeing it happen. Seasonality. Food. Cycles. My Welsh heritage. The line of women that connects me to Wales, and how being female can sometimes feel so interlinked with the natural landscape. The link can feel so personal, but it's also all encompassing. It’s really a place where you can simply exist… in the city you are always striving, but in the countryside you just have to exist to be content and that’s really enough.

What is your contribution to ‘Stories within Our Isles’?

I am sharing a selection of photographs from my project Still Here. Still Here is contemplation on my surroundings; slowly building a sense of place through observations of light, landscapes, and fragments of the people that inhabit them. Central to the images is the exploration of time passing; a quiet meditation on the relationship we hold to our encompassing environments. The River Usk rises on the northern slopes of the Black Mountain in the westernmost part of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. Flowing down through the valleys nearby to where my mother’s family is from in the South of Wales, it holds a strong sense of place within my female family history. Four generations of women (myself, my mother, my mother’s mother, and her mother – my great grandma) have returned to this spot by the village of Llangynidr, and the flow of the river acts as a metaphor for the continuity of the generations. Taken over the space of a year in which my grandmother passed away, these photos of the river are a reflection on heritage and the intrinsic link we hold to the natural environment.

Work by Lottie Hampson