Lucy Saggers: Ford of the Sorrel
After moving to rural Yorkshire, stories of Lucy's village community soon began to unfold - the ordinary, the universal, the everyday threads of our interwoven lives. Long inspired by the work of James Ravilious, Lucy knew that she wanted to document the place, its people, and this sense of rootedness. After all, it is “how we live our days that makes our life” (Annie Dillard). Ford of the Sorrel spans ten years of life in a Yorkshire village and was published by Bluecoat Press in November 2021. "The layers of connection through the community and within its extended families started to reveal themselves: who lived where, or farmed which field; whose sheep grazed by the old mill; who might be going where, when and sometimes why. The more I noticed, the more absorbed I became with the evolving stories of interwoven lives; the powerful sense of belonging created between the people and the land, and through knowing and being known to each other. I felt compelled to photograph, as far as it is possible, the rootedness of these people in this place as it is today - and may not be tomorrow." Lucy Saggers
"A wonderful and very special body of work. Technically, perfect. The tonal richness, those almost bottomless shadows, the sharpness and detail, the colour (the pictures all have a colour that makes me think of old Record Rapid, and is almost invisible in artificial light). That balance between elegy and vivacity - there is a strong sense of the past, but the work is very much alive. I love Ian's exhortation [in the foreword] to look for the timeless stories in our own neighbourhoods, and I think this work will encourage and inspire other people to do that." Paul Herrmann, Director, Redeye the Photography Network
"Great photography requires devotion to subject matter. And yet you must also develop the craft that enables you to "channel" your thoughts, feelings, ideas, and impressions of your subject directly through your camera. Lucy Saggers is such a photographer, a modern visual poet whose images give light to the people she knows and loves in the village landscape where she lives." Joe Cornish
"It's stunning and truly captures a community and place in a quiet and significant way. A beautiful project and so well-sequenced and presented.” Nicola Shipley, Director, GRAIN Projects
"They strike us with their luminous quality: rural homages in black and white, telling tales and capturing sincere moments otherwise passed by. Lucy Saggers' depictions are rich in narrative, communicating the essence of a Yorkshire community. She is acutely drawn to light, to shade and the qualities of the British landscape. Lucy's work possesses such consciousness for texture and generosity of spirit, grasping always for the light and for humility." Yorkshire Art Journal
“Lucy's work is captivating. Her photographs chart people's stories and make you think about the ongoing strength and significance of community.” Jennifer Smith, Director, Ryedale Folk Museum
"These wonderful photographs are poems and short stories; they are miniatures and epics; they are tiny movements at the edge of the folding map and huge gestures at the vortex of the turning world. Lucy Saggers's images have the timelessness of cave paintings but, somehow the modernity of Instagram. We share their humanity and they amplify ours. Swim around in these deep, deep photographs and then look around your own street, your own village, your own neighbourhood and try and find the timeless stories there because in the end none of us, as Lucy Saggers proves, is very far from the centre of things." from Ian McMillan's foreword, Ford of the Sorrel
For more details about Lucy's work, please visit her website
