Ben Roberts

 

From the series ‘The Seventh Zone’.

 Eleven years ago, a friend bought me a book called ‘The London Loop’, detailing a 150-mile-long walk around the periphery of England’s capital city. In retrospect, my friend recognised something that I didn’t – that after many years of living in city centres, I was ready to embark on the long journey back to nature. 

The photographs in ‘The Seventh Zone‘, including this image of a tyre swing in Coulsdon, were taken during a series of walks around the edges of London, following the routes detailed in the book.

I passed through this part of South London on a particularly cold winter’s day in December 2010, in the company of my friend Oliver Whitehead. We trudged 10 miles through shin deep snow, the fog of our breath in front of us and deep footprints behind, the blankness of the white landscape punctuated by occasional interventions like this makeshift playground. 

‘The Seventh Zone’ is an appreciation of nature that is hidden in plain sight, of the rhythms of life on the edge of a city, and an examination of the friction that occurs when urban sprawl meets the countryside. 

This photograph is printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag. This white cotton artist’s paper, with its characteristic, wonderfully soft feel, boasts a lightly defined felt structure, lending each artwork a three-dimensional appearance and impressive pictorial depth. Combined with a matt premium inkjet coating, this paper produces outstanding prints that feature brilliant colours, deep blacks, striking contrasts and perfect reproduction of detail. The paper is acid and lignin free, meeting the most exacting requirements for age resistance. 

Prints are produced at The Printspace in London, and are accompanied by a signed certificate of authenticity. 

Please allow 8-10 days for production and delivery.

 

Print sizes:

8×10″ (image size 8.6 x 6.9″) – Edition of 20 – £55

12×15″ (image size 12.8 x 10.2″) – Edition of 10 – £80

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