Wallscapes is a photography project I began during the first Lockdown in 2020. I used the hour we were permitted to exercise outside the home to walk a route around my neighbourhood and beyond. I became fascinated by the brick and flint walls that are common in the older part of Winchester where I live. I began noticing the different types of lichen that grows on these walls and how the texture, patterns and colours varies from species to species and from hour to hour.

As I walked the same route daily these patches of lichen (or micro-environments) began to settle in my memory. I began to record them using my iPhone and was amazed at the level of close-up detail that could be achieved. I amassed a huge number of images of various lichens over the next months and into 2021.

The more I pored over these images I began to see similarities and echos with satellite or drone images of landscapes. They could have been images of tundra, or desert, or scrub I was looking at. Humans are programmed to seek out and recognise pattern and repetition and I was experiencing this but across scale and perspective.

I knew I wanted to publish and share these images and decided to create a zine. So in the summer break in 2021, I chose 24 of the images which showed the diversity and beauty of these remarkable plants and their environments and created “Wallscapes”.

One of the main lessons I have learned from completing projects whilst studying is that the process is as important as the outcome. Whilst I am broadly happy with the zine as it stands (there is always the niggling feeling that another image would have been a better choice or that the order could be different), the skills I have acquired and processes I have tested give me as much satisfaction.