University of Bristol: Photo exhibition at Royal Fort Gardens chronicles urban land cultivation in Bristol

Since April 2020, Chris has been slowly and methodically documenting the allotment-goers, landscape and seasonal changes across the official and unofficial growing spaces of the city.

The resulting photographs, originally commissioned by Bristol Photo Festival, are published in a new book to coincide with an exhibition of the work at the inaugural festival this summer.

Chris’ project documents 11 sites across the city from established allotment sites to community gardens and improvised plots on disused lands.

The project was conceived before the pandemic, but its timing, coinciding with increased demand for green spaces for cultivating produce, allowed him to capture the formation and energy of a growing renaissance.

Growing Spaces runs until August 18 and is free to visit.

Chris Hoare was born in Bristol where he currently lives and works. In 2019 he gained his MA in Photography from University of West of England. His work focuses on the overlooked in society, exploring themes of identity and place, whilst utilising ‘speculative documentary’ to tell visual stories in a loose metaphorical way.

His work has been exhibited at National Portrait Gallery, London, Paris Photo and Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol. In 2020 he was a finalist in the Palm Prize and awarded a GRAIN Covid-19 response bursary. His work has been published in The Guardian, Fisheye, SEASON, HUCK, The Wire, Soccerbible, Les Inrockuptibles, Lufthansa Magazine, Timeout, The Commuter Journal, B24/7 and Bristol Magazine.