Drawn to Witness

16-29 May
Memorial Art Gallery
7 Cambridge Rd, Hastings TN34 1DJ

Felling Hollington Valley_ Emily Johns11062716_616500045116602_604396006355195354_n1913861_721319487967990_6286718992141980999_n

I have been drawing the changes in Hollington Valley nature reserve over the last year, from the end of one winter to the end of the next, as a struggle takes place between Seachange Sussex, Hastings Council and environmental campaigners about the building of another road. Not your idyllic Spring Watch in a Sussex bluebell wood but an observation of the processes that drive out protected species to prepare the land for tarmac. The drawing is a record of place, an act of witness of a heavy footprint, a capturing of spirit; it bears an imprint of conversations with local walkers, security guards, and residents of Emmaus.

See news report in Hastings Observer of how to draw surrounded by security guards