Crunch time: a tale of two apple trees

The Guardian

29-05-2025

When renowned landscape photographers Jem Southam and Barbara Bosworth decided to each document an apple tree for a year – the former near Exeter in Devon, the latter in New England in the US - their results were startlingly different. Their collaboration started a lively exchange that became a book: Duet on the Apple Blossom (Dust Collective). An exhibition inspired by the book, Notes on a Duet, is at Flow Photographic Gallery in London, by appointment, until 14 September Composite: Jem Southam and Barbara Bosworth
Beginning at the winter solstice of 2022, they each chose an apple tree in their backyards to photograph throughout the coming year Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
The photographs show the artists share a common fascination with the natural world Photograph: Jem Southam
The project allowed the pair to record the apple trees, the minutiae of the environment surrounding them and the changing seasons Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'We have all these shared interests: natural history, 10x8 photography, slow looking, and a slightly romantic appreciation of the English landscape. What I saw in Barbara's work was a profound looseness. My work, by contrast, often has a tight construction to it' Photograph: Jem Southam
Bosworth: 'That contrast extends to the apple trees we each chose. Yours, in England, is in a garden; pruned, tended and cultivated. Mine is a wild crab apple. It reflects a broader distinction between our landscapes. The American landscape is often perceived as a great wilderness, while England is seen as a garden' Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'People say that in England, there isn't a square metre untouched by human hands. Compared with the vastness of the American wilderness – especially in New England, where former farmland is returning to forest – England's land is intensely managed' Photograph: Jem Southam
Bosworth: 'This project also touches on the long botanical exchange between England and New England. Many of our plants originated in England, and were brought over by settlers. I have family connections in the English Midlands. I began exploring the land where my grandfather grew up, seeking to understand his agricultural background. Walking through an English meadow for the first time, I realised how closely related its plants were to those back home. It felt comfortingly familiar' Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'Watching Barbara work is fascinating, like a butterfly moving around a flower, sensing something happening. It's all air. By contrast, I think I am rather more like a badger, trundling along with my gaze downwards and all earthbound' Photograph: Jem Southam
Bosworth: 'Over the year, we watched the sun move across the sky, illuminating the tree differently with each passing season' Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'We both take great pleasure in working with light. Our landscapes are constantly shifting with the seasons' Photograph: Jem Southam
Bosworth: 'Collaboration invites new ways of thinking. Jem and I both primarily work alone while making our pictures. Maybe that's why this structure worked with independent image making, then a sharing. I would love to collaborate again' Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'Me too. The project anchored me for a year, giving me a clear direction. My only regret is not doing this sooner. It was such a rich experience' Photograph: Jem Southam
Bosworth: 'We both decided to work digitally instead of with large-format cameras. For me, it became a different kind of practice, more like notation, an act of describing what I saw' Photograph: Barbara Bosworth
Southam: 'Working digitally has a quality of sketching. It's quick and flexible in ways that large format doesn't allow. It lets me work in a greater variety of light and conditions' Photograph: Jem Southam
Alex Schneideman, owner of Flow Photographic Gallery: 'Bosworth and Southam have accomplished a field study that speaks not just of their subject but also of their relationship as artists and friends'
Composite: Jem Southam & Barbara Bosworth