Home page image featuring the FIELDS logo overlaid on an archival photograph of a farmer and bull

SHEEP. COW. FARMER.


FIELDS examines the lives, stories and experiences of British sheep, cows and farmers past and present.

ABOUT

Working with photographic, film and audio archives, academic and artist research, and interviews, FIELDS traces the personal and social histories of cows, sheep and farmers.

It invites us to think about their lives lived together, across different regions of the UK. It asks us to consider how they got here and where they are headed.

Two cows eating grass on moor land in Newcastle upon Tyne

Image: Michele Allen

Image: Michele Allen

Events, exhibition and film screenings in the North, East and South of England from August 2021 until January 2022.

Supported by new online stories, publications, podcasts and artist commissions.

Market stalls in Newcastle upon Tyne, Hexham, Beverley and Louth across summer and autumn 2021.

Touring film programme FIELDS: Farming on Film with screenings at Hexham Forum Cinema, Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne and Everyman Cinema, Lincoln in September, October and November 2021.

black and white image of sheep in a field
COMMISSIONS

Three commissioned artists from the UK and Ireland explore the unseen and overlooked lives of farmers, cows and sheep from across East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North Wales, Newcastle upon Tyne and Northumberland.

Using film, photography, technology and creative responses to research and archive collections they’ve created work that seeks to inspire the public to reflect on their relationship with cows, sheep, farmers and farming.

Their work will be shared online and at public events, exhibitions and film screenings in Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, East Yorkshire, Reading and Lincolnshire from August 2021 until January 2022.

Close up image of two hands pulling grass apart

MARK JONES

Documentary filmmaker Mark Jones has made a short documentary film about two farmers from the Meirionnydd area of North Wales. Olwen Ford and Geraint Davies are both passionate about sustainable farming and food culture. Mark's intimate portrait reflects the ongoing economic struggle British farmers face and the challenge of farming stereotypes.

vimeo.com/unmarkedfilms


Close up image profile of a rams head being stroked by a human

MICHELE ALLEN

Photographer Michele Allen has produced Ruminations and Westwood - two short films and a publication that reflect on the lives of grazing cattle on common pasture land in Newcastle upon Tyne and Beverley, East Yorkshire. Her work includes previously unpublished archive photographs from Museum of English Rural Life collections and interviews with people whose lives are intertwined with the livestock.

michele-allen.co.uk


Black and white Charcoal drawing of a sheep kneeling down

SHANE FINAN

For six months visual artist Shane Finan interviewed farmers and observed the behaviours of sheep across the North of England and Ireland. He has created A Detached Touch, a series of online stories that ask us to consider how we see sheep and farmers, and how they in turn might see us.

field.shanefinan.org

EVENTS

Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

Michele installing at Beverley Guildhall

Michele installing at Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

Item 1 of 3

Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

Michele installing at Beverley Guildhall

Michele installing at Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

Beverley Guildhall

WESTWOOD

Screening of Michele Allen’s short film about the Westwood, a 600 acre common pasture land in Beverley, East Yorkshire, managed by Zowie Bell, the first female pasture warden.

The film was screened on loop in the courtroom of the 700 year old Grade I listed Guildhall and was free for people to view.

Event included display and distribution of Michele Allen's publication Ruminations

Friday 10 September 2021: Beverley Guildhall
Register Square, Beverley, HU17 9XX

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Forum Cinema, Hexham

Forum Cinema, Hexham

Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Item 1 of 5

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Forum Cinema, Hexham

Forum Cinema, Hexham

Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

Star & Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

Everyman Cinema, Lincoln

FIELDS : FARMING ON FILM

Screenings of new film commissions and archive film and moving image from the collections of BFI, Museum of English Rural Life, Yorkshire & North East Film Archives and the Media Archive of Central England.

Including Michele Allen’s film Ruminations about cows on Newcastle’s Town Moor, a short film by Shane Finan, Because The Exchange is Complete and Mark Jones’ new documentary Ar Y Fferm about North Welsh farmers Olwen Ford and Geraint Davies plus introductions and Q&As with the filmmakers, researchers and farmers.

All screenings were free with booking

Tuesday 28 September 2021: Hexham Forum Cinema

Thursday 21 October 2021: Star & Shadow Cinema

Thursday 18 November 2021: Everyman Cinema, Lincoln*


*part of beinghumanfestival.org

Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne

Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Item 1 of 9

Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne

Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Bike Garden, Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Louth Market, Lincolnshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

Beverley Market, East Riding of Yorkshire

MARKETS

FIELD artists and researchers set up stall at markets across Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne, Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire in summer and autumn 2021, listening to people share stories and experiences of cows, sheep and farming .

Free copies of the FIELDS newspaper and artist publications were distributed, as well as archive material from Museum of English Rural Life collections made available for people to look through.

Sunday 8 August 2021: Nuns Moor Park Bike Garden mini-market
Nuns Moor Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5NU

Saturday 28 August 2021: Louth Market
Cornmarket, Louth, LN11 9PD

Saturday 11 September 2021: Beverley Market
Market Pl, Beverley, HU17 8EA

Saturday 25 September 2021: Hexham Farmers Market
Market Pl, Hexham, NE46 1XQ

Saturday 16 October: Grainger Market
Grainger St, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 5QQ

EXHIBITION

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museums of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museums of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

Item 1 of 3

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museums of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museums of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS

An exhibition of museum collections, interpretations, photography, film and visual art from commissioned artists Michele Allen, Mark Jones and Shane Finan at Museum of English Rural Life.

Friday 1 October 2021 - Monday 31 January 2022: Museum of English Rural Life

merl.reading.ac.uk

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

Item 1 of 3

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

FIELDS, Museum of English Rural Life

PRINT

NEWSPAPERS

5000 tabloid print newspapers, that mirror FIELDS online, distributed across Northumberland, East Yorkshire, Tyneside, Lancashire, Lincolnshire and the South East of England.

BEER MATS

Series of collectable Beer Mat provocations using Museum of English Rural Life photographic collections, with QR codes. 3000 printed and distributed in cafés, bars and pubs across Northumberland, Tyneside, Lincolnshire, Lancashire and East Yorkshire.

CREDITS
FIELD project logo

FIELDS is a part of FIELD, a four-year research project (2018 - 2022) funded by the Wellcome Trust. It brings together a team of artists, social scientists, historians, economists and epidemiologists to research how livestock disease is influenced by nature and culture, science and society, and by the actions of humans and livestock.

It focuses specifically on endemic diseases, defined as those which are continually present in particular regions or populations.

FIELD-WT.CO.UK

@field_wt


FIELD partners are University of Lincoln, Newcastle University, Leeds Trinity University, University of Hull, University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh and Museum of English Rural Life.

FIELD project logo board