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.

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

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 Her work includes previously unpublished archive photographs from Museum of English Rural Life collections and interviews with people whose lives are intertwined with the livestock.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

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

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.