How the Project Started
Every Christmas for many years I exchanged letters with a school friend, in 2023 there was a card but no letter, I did not quite know what to make of this. Over Christmas 2024 things became more clear, I did receive a letter, however it was very different, visually his handwriting had noticeably changed, the story it contained shocked me.
The story he told me was one of how he had, over the years developed dementia, that he believes has been caused by dipping sheep. I was not sure how to process this news or what it meant for my friend. It took over a year for me to work out how to respond to it, and what I would do with what I’d been told.
To give some context, over a period of approximately 15 years over the 70's 80's and early 90's farmers were required by law to dip sheep (in effect bath them). The purpose of this was to kill parasites that can cause the sheep serious harm. The chemicals used were also mandated (organophosphates), it has long been known of the potential harms to health these chemicals can cause, this was explored in Government in a different context as far back as the 1950's.
There is a myriad of symptoms and conditions that have been attributed to organophosphates, despite there being a huge amount of empirical evidence pinning down what is causal across a range of conditions is far more difficult.
The Project
I want to work with farmers, shepherds and shepherdesses to produce a series of portraits. I want to show what in their view is the impact sheep dip and dipping sheep earlier in their careers is having on them now, in my friends case it's dementia, this is one of many conditions that are likely to be able to be attributed to dipping.
This is a portraiture project, I'm not wanting to make a particular point rather I want to see who's out there and document their stories.
The Aim - A Series of Exhibitions.
Once the photography is complete in the first instance I want to exhibit the images back into the agricultural community through county shows and through other parts of the agricultural community. When you start a project like this you never know where it will go, if there are sufficient images it's possible a zine or small book may be produced.
I am planning for summer 2028, I may be able to exhibit some initial work in Summer 2027
Please consider taking part and shooting a portrait with me.
I'm looking for farmers, shepherds and shepherdesses who have developed dementia to take part, please get in touch if you are interested, I'm happy to answer any questions if you just want to find out more.
If you are happy to take part I'll tell you more and we'll fix a date for me to come to you to produce some portraits.
You can reach me on
Phone/txt 07801 705345
e-mail gk@gavinkemp.net
Postal: Gavin Kemp Photography Limited, West Side Factory, Belper Street,
Ilkeston, Derbyshire, DE7 5FJ
Once I had the news from my schoolfriend as a creative and photographer I wanted to respond to it and really this is the only tangible thing I can think of.
Shooting as portraiture in a more doccumenrary style will provide the opportunity to tell the stories of some of those who were dipping sheep many years ago and how it's now affecting them later in their lives.
It is a peice of personal work - I'm doing it for myself and as such I expect to fund it myself. That being said parts of it (for example the exhibition prints) could be expensive and if I can find sponsorship for some of the parts where there will be direct costs, I'll be very grateful.
This project fits in to my personal body of work, and it's part of the photography I do as an artist and creative.
As a professional photograher I have a good understanding of how consent needs to work, I could also be working with people some of whom could be considerd vulnerable, and I expect there may be other family members who want to be reasured. I take this responsibility very seriously.
Technically the project falls under the requirements of GDPR so everything needs to done on the basis of written consent. The consent I am going to ask for will be to use the images and peoples details and stories only in the context of the project directly, and this will be based on on exhibition, online use and in print that could include a small book or zine if there are sufficient images. This context will also include PR for the project.
There is a long list of things that this consent excludes for example it excludes campaigning and commercial use.
There are two answers to this, in terms of the photography - that's happening now, the second part, the exhibition, that is likely to be 2028, I don't know if there will be enough work to mount a show in 2027. But there is the interest to do so.
Yes - it's that simple, sharing the images with those who take part is an important part of the project, it's also a thank you for being a part of it.
My Back Story
Today I'm a fashion photogrpaher, however my career started in agriculture, although not from a farming family I was working on farms in holidays and at school as a young teenager.
I had 2 interests at school, farming and photography, considering I'm mildly dyslexic, back then it made sense to be guided away from photography and towards agriculture. Having studied at Riseholme Agricultural College I then started my career in agriculture.
Contact details
Postal address: Gavin Kemp Photography Ltd
West Side Factory, Belper Street, Ilkeston, DE 7 5FJ
Phone 07801 705345 mail gk@gavinkemp.net