The Story of Connected Life
through Rock, Earth and Community.
Sep Woolley, holding his number 19 lamb and ewe, lambing time, Moscar Farm, near Monyash, Derbyshire Peak District. April 10th, 2022.
Bedrock Geology: Carboniferous Limestone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Detail of a colony of soil bacteria cultured on nutrient agar, previously inoculated with a diluted soil sample. Location: Via Gellia Woods, Derbyshire. March.
Size in real life: 10mm
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation
Alex Hyde
Fran, 13 Years Old, Lydgate Farm, Aldwark. After hours of flint walking* freshly ploughed fields opposite Longcliffe Quarry, April 9th, 2022, Derbyshire Peak District.
(*Flint Walking, to collect fragments of flint and ancient tools and scrapers, brought to the surface of newly ploughed earth.)
Bedrock Geology: Beelow Limestone Formation.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate) the Actual Rock under Fran’s feet.
Kate Bellis
Detail of a colony of soil bacteria cultured on nutrient agar, previously inoculated with a diluted soil sample. Location: Via Gellia Woods, Derbyshire, collected from the same locality where Fran’s portrait was taken.
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation
Alex Hyde
Jen Lomas, Hill farmer, in a lambing snowstorm in early May 2021. On the ancient track way from Greenlow Burial Mound to Lydgate Farm after doing the lambing Rounds, Derbyshire Peak District.
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate)
Kate Bellis
Land
‘I am nothing when you think about it,
How old this Land is, how many lives have been lived here.
You want to leave the Land better,
Leave your mark somehow.’
- Jen Lomas
Mark
Detail of a colony of soil bacteria cultured on nutrient agar, previously inoculated with a diluted soil sample. Location: Via Gellia Woods, Derbyshire, collected from the same locality where Jen’s portrait was taken.
Size in real life: 10mm
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation
Alex Hyde
Aurochs Sculpture at EarthBound exhibition, National Stone Centre.
Sally Matthews
AUROCHS. Bones Found at Carsington Pasture Cave and Hoe Grange Cave. 1.8m at the shoulder Aurochs were the ancestors to domestic cattle – aggressive, powerful and nimble with long legs and horns sometimes over a metre long.
Charcoal, Black Cement colourant and coal dust, volcanic layer from the National Stone Centre, earth from Kate’s Garden at Bolehill, wood varnish and limestone dust from Longcliffe Quarry.
Sally Matthews
Niki Killer Talking to the Bullocks at Dusk, Old Bolehill Mine Spoil Heap, Derbyshire Peak District, August 7th 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Bowland Shale Formation over Carboniferous Limestone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls, collected from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Safe
‘My Mum died when I was very young... so being out here, in the fields around home was important. I still like to be out here.’
Earth
Barn Owl, Found Newly Dead, Spitewinter Barn and Meadow, Wirksworth Moor, Derbyshire Peak District, January 15th 2021.
Bedrock Geology: Ashover Grit-Sandstone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Cruel
‘I look down at beautiful evolution, but not quite perfect enough, this cruel wonderland has starved and frozen the ghost of Spitewinter Barn.’
- Kate Bellis, January 15th 2021. Read more
Earth
Spitewinter Barn, Wirksworth Moor, January 15th 2021.
Bedrock Geology: Ashover Grit-Sandstone.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Bacterial, fungal and yeast colonies cultured on nutrient agar, previously inoculated with a diluted soil sample. Location: Spitewinter barn floor, Wigwell, Derbyshire.
Size in real life: 60mm
Bedrock Geology: Ashover Grit – Sandstone
Alex Hyde
Barn Owl Tyto Alba, frozen feather detail
Bedrock Geology: Gritstone
Alex Hyde
Barn Owl Tyto Alba, wing detail.
Bedrock Geology: Gritstone
Alex Hyde
Intricate
The foremost wing feather (10th primary) has a row of tiny barbs along its leading edge, breaking down turbulence and enabling near silent flight.
Investigate
Barn Owl Tyto Alba foot.
The knobbly surface aids grip on prey and when perching. Prey is killed by foot clenching.
Bedrock Geology: Gritstone
Alex Hyde
Beetle Wing Case Extracted from a Spitewinter Barn Owl Pellet, Cyanotype Hand Print of a SEM Micrograph.
Kate Bellis
Small mammal bones underneath roost of Barn Owl Tyto alba.
Bedrock Geology: Gritstone
Alex Hyde
Vole Tooth Detail, Extracted from a Spitewinter Barn Owl Pellet. Hand Printed Cyanotype of a SEM Micrograph
Kate Bellis
Dead Barn Owl Tyto Alba,
Gesso, charcoal, varnish and soil from Griffe Walk Farm (loam), Volcanic layer from National Stone Centre Quarry (grey), surrounded by Spitewinter barn floor.
Sally Matthews
Fallen
The Owl lies, slowly joining the soil beneath it, composed of the fallen remains of the prey that kept it alive, muck, traces of visiting sheep, insects and dust.
Sheltered in death as in life by Spitewinter Barn, built generations ago with stone quarried from the same ground.
Generations
Limestone Microfossils. Longcliffe, Derbyshire
Packed with foraminifera and bryozoans (both microscopic aquatic organisms), these tiny shells and tests rained down to form a sediment on the sea floor of the shallow, tropical ocean that once ebbed and flowed over this very spot approximately 330 million years ago.
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation
Alex Hyde
Amy, New Generation of Women in Quarrying, Laboratory Technician, Longcliffe Limestone Quarry, Brassington Moor, Derbyshire Peak District. November 18th 2021.
Kate Bellis
Free
‘That cold wind that sometimes comes and goes,
A place I felt I was completely free to be myself.’
- Amy
Place
Glynis, Worked in Quarrying for 50 Years, many of those as Queen of the Longcliffe Weigh bridge. Longcliffe Limestone Quarry, Brassington Moor, Derbyshire Peak District. December 2nd 2021.
Kate Bellis
Evolve
‘The Land is my life,
I belong to it,
my life’s evolved round it,
It’s who I am’
- Glynis Spencer
Belong
Lichen Internal Structure. A cleaved sample of a crustose lichen growing on limestone.The grey areas are limestone, the orange are fungal threads and the green shows algal cells.
Scanning Electron Micrograph, imaged at the University of Derby, sample prepared at the Natural History Museum, London.
Alex Hyde
Julie Carey, Longcliffe Laboratory Supervisor, in the top dust shed checking the limestone product quality, Longcliffe Quarry, Brassington Moor, Derbyshire Peak District, April 5th, 2022.
Bedrock Geology: Bee Low Limestone Formation.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate, from the bag Julie is holding).
Kate Bellis
Portrait of Amy at Longcliffe Quarry, printed on a metal disc of Quarry reclaim, gleaned by Kate while photographing her portraits.
Collaborative piece, Liane Lang and Kate Bellis.
Southern Bristletail Dilta hibernica, found amongst limestone scree at Longcliffe Hoe Grange nature reserve, Derbyshire, once a working quarry site. November 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Limestone
Alex Hyde
Egg sac of unidentified spider clad in limestone flakes, discovered under a slab of limestone at Longcliffe Hoe Grange nature reserve, Derbyshire. October 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Limestone
Alex Hyde
Cave Hyena Crocuta Crocuta Spelaea. Ash, Charcoal, Cement colourant, Griffe Walk Farm earth, Loncliffe Quarry limestone dust.
Sally Matthews
Bedrock Geology: Limestone
Time
Hyenas were the hunter-gatherers of Hoe Grange Cave, surviving on whatever they could hunt and scavenge, leaving the remains as a time capsule, a bone museum of millennia to be discovered by limestone quarry men in 1902.
Layer
CAVE HYENA. A Cave Hyena Den was found by Quarry Men at Hoe Grange in 1902, discovering layers of bones and remains from their Prey.
Compost, wood, grasses, feathers from old duvets, Scot’s pine needles from Creswell Crags, horsehair from horse grazing Hoe Grange Farm.
Sally Matthews
Juvenile Earthbound Being. Pen and Ink layered collage drawing with Crinoid fossil and fungi structure detail.
E. J. Lance
Elephant Hawkmoth Deilephila elpenor, discovered after coming to light at night. Youlgrave, Derbyshire. May 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Limestone
Alex Hyde
Jim Oaks Talking Bees with Kate in his Orchard, Wirksworth Moor.
Bedrock Geology: Ashover Grit - Sandstone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Thronging
“Have you got time to take a look at my orchard Kate? I’ve got so many bumble bees, it’s thronging, they’re coming to the plum blossom, it’s just started, we’ve got to look after them, we need them...”
- Jim Oaks
Blossom
Pollen grains on the style of a Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia). Hoe Grange Nature Reserve, Derbyshire. August.
Bedrock Geology: Monsal Dale Limestone Formation
Scanning Electron Micrograph, produced at the Natural History Museum, London.
Alex Hyde
PIG. Clearing bracken from the last remnant of Wirksworth Heather Moor, Wigwell Nook Farm.
Earth, sycamore seeds, roots, oak and hornbeam leaves etc. grasses, charcoal and wood varnish.
Sally Matthews
Shining Cliff Woods, Twisted Oak growing from the gritstone.
Bedrock Geology: Ashover Grit - Sandstone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Network of fungal mycelia growing across a dead beach leaf on the forest floor. The mycelium is the vegetative part of the fungus and is made up of a mass of thread-like hyphae. Dimons Dale, Cromford, Derbyshire. November 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Bowland Shale Formation
Alex Hyde
Renee Brailsford, Gardener and Plantswoman, Pitty Woods, near Wirksworth.
Bedrock Geology: Bowland Shale Formation over Carboniferous limestone.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls.
Kate Bellis
Ash Leaf. Seven stomata are visible, pores in the surface of the leaf that allow gas exchange to occur. The rate of gas exchange is controlled by a pair of specialised guard cells that flank each pore, swelling or shrinking as required to alter the aperture.
0.16 millimetres across in real life.
Scanning Electron Micrograph, imaged at the University of Derby, sample prepared at the Natural History Museum, London. Image hand-coloured.
Alex Hyde
Phil Spencer, collecting eggs from Kate, after a rainstorm, meadows on the edge of Wirksworth. Covid lockdown, Early June 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Bowland Shale Formation over Carboniferous Limestone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls
Kate Bellis
Mother
‘My Mother was half gypsy and proud of it, I think that’s why I always want to be outside looking at nature... never get fed up, houses and cottage are just shelter from the storm.’
Shelter
Tardigrade. This tardigrade is approximately 0.1 millimetres long. Also known as Water Bears, Tardigrades are tiny invertebrates that are found in almost every environment on planet, from deep seas to mountain tops.
Scanning Electron Micrograph, imaged at the University of Derby, sample prepared at the Natural History Museum, London. Image hand-coloured.
Alex Hyde
Child Protestor, Extinction Rebellion March and Demonstration, Wirksworth, September 2019.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Bernard Woolley, Age 72, working into the evening to bring home the hay harvest. Meadows around Arbor Low Ancient Stone Circle, 31st August 2021.
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Thrip. This thrip’s head is 0.15 millimetres across in real life. This insect was discovered on the centre of an Ox-eye daisy.
Scanning Electron Micrograph. Specimen prepared and imaged at the Natural History Museum, London.
Alex Hyde
Richard Mycock with his Grandson, On their Dairy Farm, Derbyshire Peak District, March 14th 2020.
Bedrock Geology: Carboniferous Limestone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls collected by Kate and her son from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
Strength
‘I help with the cows and I can drive a tractor...these are my new big teeth, they’ve just busted out, they’re strong, it’s the milk, I’ll show you...’ He grins wide, I shake him firmly by the hand before I leave, that’s the last time I’ve shaken anyone’s hand for almost a year now. I didn’t realise how that moment would stay with me.’
Kate Bellis, talking to Richard Mycock’s Grandson, First visit, Just before first Lockdown, March 2020.
Memory
Dung beetles Geotrupidae.
Black gloss paint, sheep muck, and Powder nail polish
Sally Matthews
Beneath
'Only a very small amount of life on earth is lucky enough to exist without any human contact or interference. The Dung beetle largely lives beneath piles of muck, dragging it down into the tunnels it has burrowed beneath, to feed its young, but still their lives are often disrupted and entangled in our reality.'
Entangled
Watching life pass by, sat on their doorstep, May Bank Holiday weekend, 2019, Wirksworth High Street.
Bedrock Geology: Bowland Shale Formation over Carboniferous Limestone
Hand printed cyanotype toned using oak galls, collected by Kate and her son, from Wirksworth Moor and Longcliffe Limestone dust (Calcium Carbonate).
Kate Bellis
We are all EarthBound
Feather Winged Beetle. Family: Ptilidae. From an original Specimen collected and prepared by Alex Hyde and imaged as a SEM Micrograph by Kate Bellis.
Hand Printed Pure Cyanotype made using ferric Ammonium Citrate and Potassium Ferricyanide
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