Lungs of the City explores the relationship between the trees which breathe life into our cities and their encompassing urban environment, showing the tree as an enduring symbol of survival in densely populated areas, through a mixture of discord and harmony between the trees and their surroundings.
 
Trees play an important role in dispersing and removing pollutants from the atmosphere. William Pitt (the Elder) is said to have coined the phrase “Lungs of London” in the 18th century when the city's main parks were under threat from rapid urban expansion. Trees are also vital for wellbeing, as inhabitants of cities often suffer from a disconnection with nature which can lead to increased stress levels, lack of concentration and ADHD in children.
 
I have chosen the city of Portsmouth as the location for my project as it is the second most densely populated city in the UK and has tree canopy coverage of just 9.8 %, yet there are approximately 86,500 trees in total across Portsmouth of which roughly 8,500 are street trees. Last year Portsmouth was one of 19 cities in the UK to receive special recognition as a Tree City of the World for their commitment to effective urban forestry management and has begun a programme of community planting projects, with over 5000 new trees planted within the community. 
 
My photographic practice follows Guy Debord’s concept of the dérive, or ‘drift’, with a series of random, unplanned journeys around Portsmouth, using pinhole photography to capture the aesthetics of the trees in the city, re-envisioning the environment using pinhole photography to produce ethereal, sometimes abstracted images that are detached from the conventional representation of the urban landscape.
 
I immerse myself in my surroundings as a form of mindfulness and am ‘photopresent’ in capturing images slowly using a pinhole camera, which is a simple light-proof box with a tiny aperture (the pinhole) instead of a lens, to capture an image on photographic material. That tiny hole has a completely different way of looking at the world than our eyes or a camera lens does, which gives my photographs another gateway to reality, inviting a reconnection with the natural environment in the city. The camera itself is made from sustainably sourced wood and the images captured on black and white film are developed using homemade eco-friendly developing solution.