In November 2003, I received travel grants from the European Cultural Foundation and Arts Council England to undertake research for a new project about transhumance and rural life in the Romanian Carpathians

Romania is one of the few countries in Europe where transhumance, the practice of moving livestock for long periods between summer pastures and upland areas and winter pastures in lowland areas continues to be widely practiced. Transhumance is an integral part of Romanian culture and many traditions, words, foods, songs and landscapes have their roots in this long established practice. During my time travelling through several mountain ranges within the Carpathians, I have spent time with the shepherds in their camps, documenting their way of life.

Shepherd, September 2004

Shepherd, Bargau Mountains, May 2005

Social, political and economic factors have combined to maintain a rich concentration of traditional semi subsistence systems unique in Europe. Pastoral farming has survived both the rigours of communism and the chaos of its decline. Now, the chance to join the EU may see the final destruction of Europe's finest pastoral landscapes and the local and traditional knowledge on which they depend.

Given their sometimes extremely small scale, the main function of family farms is the owner's subsistence, the typical farm household being made up of an elderly self-employed farmer and female non-paid family workers.

As I walk from village to village, following cart tracks and footpaths through hay meadows and orchards, I spend time with the villagers, documenting seasonal activities surrounding village life and exploring issues of self sufficiency.
 

As a photographer, I have a particular interest in different landscapes and the way they are shaped by human activity. Intuition plays an important part in my working process, with my camera I'm drawn to observing and recording details which we usually let slip by unnoticed. Exploring people's relationship to the landscape, my work records a fragile way of life threatened by EU membership and forms a visual response to the issues raised by EU enlargement and its cultural consequences.

Hand to Mouth was funded by Arts Council England, The European Cultural Foundation and Impressions Gallery and was first shown at Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford in Autumn 2007.

Hand to Mouth publication available now from Impressions Gallery, 08450 515 882. Price £15 plus £3 postage. Further information from: http://www.impressions-gallery.com

If you would like to see some reviews of the exhibition and book please visit:

Redeye website: http://www.redeye.org.uk/redeye/newsdetail.asp?uvarnewsID=266

Essay by Sophie Wright appears in the October issue of HotShoe magazine.

http://www.hotshoeinternational.com/documentary_details.do?b=104

There will also be a review of the exhibition in Source magazine in January and a review of the book in foto 8 in March.