Beyond The Fields

Beyond The Fields is a photographic project celebrating twelve women farmers in Northern England. Large portraits and stories reveal their resilience, showing life on the farm and in second careers needed to sustain land, community, and tradition.

Beyond The Fields is a photographic project that celebrates and documents the resilience of twelve women farmers from the North of England. Through large-scale portraits and accompanying narratives, the project sheds light on the precarious realities of northern farming, particularly the growing need for women to diversify their livelihoods by pursuing second careers outside agriculture to sustain their land and communities.
Each farmer is photographed in two contrasting settings: on their farms, where they work the land and tend livestock, and in their secondary roles. This dual perspective emphasises the layered lives of these women, whose work often extends beyond the farm gates to sustain their rural way of life amid economic pressures, climate change, and policy shifts. The images are shot on medium-format film, capturing both the intimacy and grandeur of these women’s lives. By pairing pastoral and non-agricultural settings, the series challenges romanticised notions of farming life and instead offers a more nuanced, contemporary portrait of rural resilience.

Beyond the Fields also aims to spark wider conversations about food sovereignty, rural gender dynamics, and the cultural labour involved in sustaining marginal farming communities. These women are often the unseen glue that holds their households, farms, and communities together. The project provides them with visibility and a voice, celebrating their adaptability and strength.