Description
Image Size: 37.0 x 25.0 cms (14.5 x 9.8”)
Acrylic on paper.
Original artwork from page 59 of ‘Orchards Through The Eyes of An Artist’ (Langford Press) ISBN 1904078087
As a result of changing farming practises, especially since WWII, orchard coverage in the UK has reduced dramatically, resulting not only in the disappearance of traditional varieties of fruit, but also in the amount of suitable habitats for a wealth of wildlife, including many rare species of beetles, mammals and birds.
This painting highlights diagrammatically the amount of commercial orchards lost in the UK, over a period of 27 years up to 1997. In 1970 there were 62,200 hectares remaining; by 1980 this had reduced to 48,700, and by 1997 only 22,400 hectares were left, a massive 64% overall decline.
In order to portray these statistics accurately in pictorial form, I weighed the complete apple at the top of the image, providing an image to represent 100% of commercial orchards left in 1970. The loss of 21.7% of orchards by 1980 was represented using a photograph of the same apple, having cut away the appropriate % of the fruit by weight. I used the same method for the final image at the bottom of the page, were only 36% of the original fruit remained.
