In October 2025 we were artists in residence at SPUD in Sway as part of the New Forest National Park Authority, Artist in Residence programme. It was an extraordinary month of immersion in the ancient woodlands of the New Forest as autumn began to shift the colour of the canopy.
We spent time with Knowles Beech, the forest’s oldest beech tree and filmed veteran trees in Bolderwood as their leaves started to turn and fall. Tours with rangers introduced us to conservation projects supporting biodiversity and habitat health, while research visits to the New Forest Heritage Centre opened up historic maps and photographs of woodland ecologies. Conversations with ecologists, rangers and specialists – from climate risk and habitat management to beetles, bark and grazing – profoundly shaped our thinking.
A key strand of our residency focused on a group of beeches in Bolderwood that have been ring-barked by ponies, a pressure that may be linked to increasingly harsh summer conditions. Although the trees appeared alive when we filmed them, their autumn leaf fall was likely their last. This research now underpins our solo exhibition, Spring Fall, 1-30 May 2026 at SPUD. The exhibition will centre on a moving-image installation of silver leaves falling in slow motion, reflecting a forest that is no longer there, and will quietly question how we measure and comprehend ecological loss.
The residency was supported using public funding by Arts Council England through the National Lottery.