eVOLVING THE FOREST

A lavishly illustrated new book has brought together forestry experts, ecologists, writers, poets and artists to explore our complex relationship with forests, woods and trees. Published by the charity art.earth the concept for the book came from a three-day long event held in 2019 - in-part marking 100years of the Forestry Commission - held at Dartington Hall in Devon. The event brought contributors together from across the globe for talks, discussions, artworks and performance all focused on the theme of our ever-evolving relationship with trees and forests. With such a huge variety of responses the book is organised loosely under the sections 'Ecology & Forest Management'; 'Philosophy & Polemic'; and 'Artistic Responses'. Included in its 442 pages is an essay from Reading the Forest's Jason Griffiths. Illustrated with photographs by Forest photographer John F. French, Jason takes as his starting point the 2011 HOOF protests and argues this was a continuation of the long tradition of robust defence of the Forest, and a love of its trees, evidence for which can be found in much of Forest of Dean literature.
The book is edited by Simon Lloyd, Richard Povall and Jeremy Ralph. You can order a copy (out on the 15th December at £27.95) at artdotearth.org/bookshop.