Chris Hoare paperwork allotment guests in lockdown
The photographer's new book, Growing Spaces, captures gardening enthusiasts and the abundance of nature in official and impromptu acts across Bristol
Although Chris Hoare's new pre-pandemic photo book Growing Spaces is in the works, it is taking on a new allure with the past year that has recalibrated our relationship with nature and seen an increased interest in gardening.
The Bristol-born photographer was originally commissioned to create the series by the Bristol Photo Festival and will be exhibiting at the inaugural edition this summer.
At the center of Growing Spaces is the breadth of communities and population groups involved in gardening and allotment gardens, from the elderly to children and entire families.
Above: View over Royate Hill Allotments. Above: Members of the Patchwork Community Gardening Group, Bedminster. All images © Chris Hoare
With the help of her three daughters Ashti, Arianne and Astera, Tara gets stuck in gardening in St. Paul's Community Garden
The photos were taken in eleven locations in the city from April 2020, including both official parcels and areas of unused land that have been revitalized as garden plots.
The variety of settings is highlighted in the series, in which images of tidy allotment gardens are in dialogue with photographs of run-down buildings and cans of storage cooled in a pond. In its resemblance to garbage, the latter image initially seems to contradict the idea of working with nature, but perhaps best sums up the meeting of urbanity and the natural world.
A pack of Budweiser stays cool in a pond on a hot Saturday afternoon in late spring, Ashley Vale
Winter Pumpkins, Thingwell Park
Lexi shields her eyes while the apple is pressed at the Totterdown Community Orchard
Mike Feingold in his greenhouse in early May
Abandoned shed, Bedminster
Abundant Crab Apples, Ashley Vale
Growing Spaces by Chris Hoare will be published by RRB Photobooks and will be shown at the Bristol Photo Festival in summer 2021. rrbphotobooks.com; bristolphotofestival.org