Events

An exhibition of fine art photography encouraging us to bring our presence to the sublimity of nature.

Robert’s inspiration for Presence came from W.H. Davies’ poem Leisure with its deeply meaningful verse, starting ‘What is this life if, full of care/We have no time to stand and stare’. This poem has influenced Robert’s life for four decades since first reading it whilst on display in Windermere.

It is a poem about looking but not merely looking; it is about attending and embracing, bringing our presence to experience. The words from W.H. Davies’ poem are more of a ladder than words. A ladder which we may use to climb above, and once there, discard with the words themselves as we come into communion with nature.

To move beyond the entreaty to stand and stare is to channel these words; It is to realise what it means to really see the world; to understand our own sensitivity towards the world. Seeing and embracing the rich patterning of nature leads us out and in doing so, draws us back within. By the delicate rendering of the world through his photography, Robert is asking something of us. He is prompting us to do away with the ladder and attend; to step into the liminal space and explore what it means to be present.