EXHIBITION

A Portrait of The Far Orchard by Mel Shand

7 - 28 June 2025

The Far Orchard project is a long term creative project that connects living systems with food and community. The project rethinks a traditional orchard where all trees grow together in a grid. In 2022, The Far Orchard was created as a dispersed orchard along the Dee valley with around 120 apple trees gifted to individuals for private and public spaces, schools, care homes, gardens and allotments. Each individual tree would be cared for by a host and together the trees form a network connected by pollinating insects. Since the project began, established apple trees have joined the orchard.

In this, the third year of the project, the artist and photographer, Mel Shand created ‘A Portrait of The Far Orchard’ photographing the trees with their host. The artist wanted to portray the individuality of the sitter and their tree in a symbiotic relationship. This was shared by all hosts across the network. The fact that they are all individual, all are different, but fundamentally the same.

What connects us? The artist was interested in the mycorrhizal network trees communicate by, and the simile of the social networks that connect humanity. With an interest in people and their stories, the artist draws inspiration from the popular children’s story, The Faraway Tree. Written in the 1930’s, the story forefronts imagination, exploration and adventure and how given the same starting point, individuals will interpret wildly differently outcomes. The installation reflects this as a playful celebration of life, nature and the unseen bonds that connect us all.