The Land Behind

Peter speaks with the London-based documentary photographer Alys Tomlinson. Motivated by anthropological considerations such as the relationship between faith, identity and place, in 2018 Alys was the winner of the Sony World Photography Awards. In 2020, she was awarded first place in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. Having just published her new photo book Gli Isolani inspired by cultural events and traditions specific to the Mediterranean islands of Sicily and Sardinia, Alys speaks about her upcoming documentary film Vera, based on the hidden life of the Orthodox nun after which the production assumes its working title. Peter also asks Alys about the parallels between photography and anthropology. Together, they consider the ways in which the documentary image can represent the concerns and conditions that make us who we are as human beings, with the dignity and openness the photographer's subject matter deserves.

https://www.alystomlinson.co.uk

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Peter speaks to the ecological anthropologist Tim Ingold. During their in-depth discussion, they consider the nature of human-animal relationships and ecologies of perception. Meanwhile, they break down the false dichotomy between culture and nature, and consider the natural environment as the meeting place between earth and sky. With a distinguished career spanning over five decades, Tim is the author of 14 books and numerous articles. While he is known for his extensive research on the nature of landscape perception and the phenomenon of human-animal relationships, he has also written on artistic practises and has suggested ways of rethinking architecture, including how we might come to inhabit landscapes again. After graduating from the University of Cambridge in 1970, he spent 16 months with Sámi reindeer communities in northeast Finland. Following a year teaching at the University of Helsinki, in 1974 Tim became a lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. In 1999 Tim moved to the University of Aberdeen to assume the newly established Chair of Social Anthropology. As well as being a fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he holds an Honourary Doctorate in Social Science and Art from the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi, Finland.

https://www.timingold.com/

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Peter speaks with the Glasgow-based documentary photographer and lecturer Simon Murphy. In a wide-ranging discussion, they explore the landscape of Govanhill as a crossroads between different ways of seeing, not least between photographer and subject. They also reflect on the photographer’s responsibility in representing the face of another, and consider the gift of vision itself.

https://www.instagram.com/smurph77

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