The NATIONAL FOREST
At its inception, the National Forest was described as a ‘symbol of hope for the nation’; a new forest spanning 200 square miles in the heart of the English Midlands. 30 years on and we are seeing the impact of these words in the transformation of the landscape, of a new sense of place, of lives and livelihoods.
Our creative industries play an important role to reflect these changes, documenting the past, making sense of the present and inspiring a better future. This is why the Photo Canopy project resonates so well, taking the Forest as the inspiration for young, creative minds to express their own version of this story.
And what is fascinating is that the Photo Canopy Project is building a body of work that reflects the spirit of the National Forest. We are creating a forest for the future; a forest that starts with the trees but reaches well beyond them too. It is in the timber in our buildings, the food we eat, the secret places we play, the shade in our towns, even the very air we breathe. The Canopy Project captures this spirit, etched into the people and places that it brings to life. It is the hope we all carry for the next generation.
John Everitt
Chief Executive
National Forest Company
Travelling down a dual carriageway, a sign announces that you are entering The National Forest, but you are still on a road, and the landscape hasn’t changed. There are trees either side of you, but this isn’t a forest trail, and yet, you are in the forest. The forest is all around you, stretching out across towns and villages, criss-crossed with roads and rivers. Envisioned in 1990, The National Forest covers an area of over 200 square miles and spans the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire. It is a forest in the medieval sense, not just trees, but a variety of different habitats - pasture, grassland, wooded areas and towns. Factories stand tall as ancient trees, their towers gleaming; mine shafts creep down into the earth like tree roots. And people live and play and work within this forest, a forest that envelops concrete and bricks without taking them over.
All places tell a story. These stories are layered on the land. There is the natural layer - the flora and fauna, geology and climate of a place that all tell part of the story about it. There is also a socio-political layer - the story of who owns a certain place, who lived there, what it might have been used for. On top of these layers is the one created by imagination - people’s ideas about the place, what it means to them, what they want it to be. The National Forest is as much a forest of the imagination as it is a physical one. In an area that had only 6% woodland in 1990, the aim was for one third of the land to eventually be covered by trees. So far, 8.5 million trees have been planted, bringing the figure up to 20%, and the idea of The National Forest has firmly taken root in the minds and lives of those who live within its boundary. This has had a regenerative impact not just on the scarred landscape, but on the communities near-destroyed by the closure of the coal mines and clay quarries, who now have new woodland and leisure spaces, reclaimed from the spoil heaps and open cast mines. There is hope, there is a sense of ownership, and new industries are springing up, bringing people back into the area.
A forest once covered most of this island. We lived within its arboreal sanctuary and it provided all we needed. Even after revolutions in Agriculture and Industry led us out, away from the forest, we still ventured back, used its wood for homes, hunted and foraged there. We cleared swathes of it for pasture, for factories, and it grew smaller, but it stayed with us in our collective memory. So many folk tales, songs and stories are set in the forest. It’s at the heart of so much of our creative output. And Photo-Canopy is a part of that, exploring themes of regeneration, landscape, nature, and the still-urban spaces that exist within this ever-evolving ‘Forest in the Making’.
Emma J. Lannie