2nd January 2025
‘Unearthed’ – Johannah Churchill
Research: Exhibition Experience
At the start of each new year, I find myself drawn to remote northern landscapes, and this time was no different. My journey led me to the southern borders of Northumberland and the northern edge of the North Pennines, prompted by an exhibition that had caught my attention just before Christmas. Titled Unearthed: Soil Restoration in Northumberland, the exhibition featured photography by Johannah Churchill, a lecturer at Sunderland University, and was hosted at the Sill. For those unfamiliar, the Sill is an educational centre located near Hadrian’s Wall, serving as a gateway for visitors (mainly walkers) into the Northumberland National Park. The centre describes itself as ‘a fantastic location to connect with nature and the National Park’s unique and special landscape.’ After visiting the exhibition, I couldn’t resist exploring the surrounding natural environment, an experience I plan to reflect on in a future blog post.
The exhibition itself was an intimate display centred on the efforts of Northumbrian farmer Stuart Johnson. Faced with the escalating costs of artificial fertilisers, Stuart sought to restore the health of his farm’s soil using natural methods. His innovative approach included brewing compost teas, practising mob grazing, and planting over 250 in-field trees. These efforts not only revitalised the soil but also reduced chemical inputs and costs by 90%, earning him the title of Soil Farmer of the Year 2023.
Johannah Churchill’s photography documented Stuart’s year-long journey, capturing both the macro and micro landscapes of soil as well as the rhythms of family life on West Wharmley Farm. Her work celebrated the intricate interplay between agricultural practices and the health of the soil. Two key series were highlighted: Down to Earth, which explored the care required for life both above and below ground, and In Constellations, which celebrated the often, overlooked beauty of soil, weeds, and waste.
Complementing the visual narrative was a short film featuring Stuart’s farming practices, accompanied by a poem titled The Soil Speaks by Kate Fox. This collaborative approach was supported by We Feed the UK, a campaign connecting photographers, poets, and food producers to raise awareness of climate change and biodiversity recovery.
I visited the Unearthed: Soil Restoration in Northumberland exhibition because it closely aligned with my ongoing research and thesis question, particularly my exploration of soil as an active, living medium that influences landscapes, sensations, and artistic expression. The exhibition, though modest in scale, presented innovative and real-world practices in soil restoration, such as Stuart Johnson's methods. These demonstrated how soil health can be revitalised through natural, sustainable techniques, brought to life through Johannah Churchill’s varied photographic approaches.
Her imagery, displayed at multiple scales, some large and impactful from floor to ceiling, others smaller and framed created a dynamic visual experience. The variety of scale resonated with the uneven terrain of the farming landscape, almost giving the exhibition a sense of movement. It highlighted both the hard work and the structural efforts of a farming family striving to do good while emphasising the invisible systems at play within the soil.
At the entrance, soil from the farm was displayed in a clay pot on a plinth, immediately drawing focus to soil as the central theme. This piece resonated with my own installation work, where I use plinths to elevate soil, contextualising it as an artistic product of value. Inside the exhibition, a glass table housed micro-level imagery, offering a closer view of the invisible life and energy that collaborated with Johnson and his family in the growth of their crops. A plant stem and root displayed alongside this micro imagery effectively demonstrated the intertwined relationship between the visible and invisible components of the landscape.
A video further explored this connection, showcasing the Johnson family’s farming practices alongside live microscopic bacteria, accompanied by Kate Fox’s poem The Soil Speaks. While I appreciated the interplay of narration and visuals, I found the timing between the poem and the film slightly out of sync, which momentarily distracted from the experience. Overall, the exhibition successfully bridged the tangible and intangible aspects of soil, offering both artistic and scientific perspectives that strongly resonated with my own research.
This exhibition seeks to challenge the common perception of soil as merely a muddy substance that supports plant growth, enables food production, and acts as a foundation for urban and architectural development. While these roles are widely accepted, soil holds far more beneath its surface, serving as a container of life, information, and energy that often remains invisible to us. Johannah Churchill’s photographic documentation captures this complexity, building a meaningful narrative and a durable connection with West Wharmley Farm.
I have long been fascinated by the role soil plays in diverse ecosystems, including those shaped by human cultivation as well as broader natural systems. This curiosity aligns with earlier reflections from my recent PM2 submission. My reading of Soil Culture: Bringing the Arts Down to Earth introduced me to Patrick Holden, CBE, Chief Executive of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose text Homage to Soil (2016) resonated deeply with me. Holden underscores the vital connection between humans and soil, despite our contemporary disconnection from it. Drawing an insightful parallel between the human digestive system and the ‘stomach’ of a plant, he highlights the critical relationship between soil and human health. He asserts that organically grown food benefits human well-being, explaining, ‘the human digestive organ is unable to function effectively without the presence of a vastly complex community of symbiotic organisms which play a central and dynamic role in maintaining health’ (CCANW, 2016).
Holden’s perspective encourages us to move beyond viewing soil as merely a foundation for growth and instead recognise it as part of an interconnected system that sustains life, including human life. This understanding enriches the context of the Unearthed exhibition at the Sill, which echoes similar themes of collaboration and awareness. The exhibition showcases how diverse efforts spanning farming, ecological restoration, and bio health, underscore the integral role of soil in the landscape.
Through this network of collaborators, I am discovering or perhaps creating a deeper understanding of soil as an essential component of the landscape. By amplifying its significance through various disciplines, I hope to contribute to a growing dialogue about the value of soil. In the concluding section of this blog, I will unpack how this exhibition has informed and supported my ongoing research journey.
From visiting this exhibition, it directly supports my research and thesis question by offering insights into the interconnected relationships between soil, landscape, and the invisible systems that shape them. This also includes how walking through landscapes can reveal sensations and feelings, translating these into forms of artistic expression. This exhibition aligns with my research in several meaningful ways:
1. Soil as a Living System: The exhibition showcased the restoration of soil health through sustainable practices, emphasising soil's active, living nature, an idea central to my research. Understanding how farmers like Stuart Johnson harness soil's natural processes provides valuable context for my exploration of soil as an energetic medium that influences feelings and sensations.
2. Artistic Representation of Soil: Johannah Churchill’s photographic series Down to Earth and In Constellations visually captured the hidden beauty and complexity of soil. These works resonate with my intention to reveal the invisible networks and energies within soil through my own creative practices, such as soil walking maps, earth batteries, and soil chromatography.
3. Multisensory Engagement with Landscape: The integration of visual art, film, and poetry in the exhibition demonstrated how multiple mediums can be used to evoke the sensory and emotional aspects of a landscape. This aligns with my interest in translating the sensations and feelings experienced during walking into installation art and other forms.
4. Narratives of Connection: The exhibition’s focus on the interconnectedness of soil, biodiversity, and human activity underscores the themes of entanglement and relationality in my thesis. Exploring these narratives enriches my understanding of how soil operates as a link between ecological systems and human experiences.
5. Practical Applications: By learning about Stuart Johnson’s practices, such as compost teas and mob grazing, I gain insights into the scientific and practical dimensions of soil restoration. These methods can inform my artistic interpretations and provide a tangible connection to the landscapes I study.
6. Collaborative Approaches: The partnership between artists, poets, and food producers in this exhibition reflects the collaborative spirit of my work. It offers inspiration for engaging with interdisciplinary practices to deepen my exploration of soil and landscape.
Ultimately, the exhibition reinforced my view of soil as a vibrant, active participant in shaping landscapes and provided new perspectives for interpreting and expressing its role in my artistic and academic research.
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