‘A Love Letter to the Hills’
‘Hill Pictures’ is a photographic exhibition by Polly Garnett as part of the Belfast Photo Festival.
The Belfast Photo Festival takes place from the 5th – 30th June this year. Bringing conversations around our shared environment to the fore, the festival features work from an array of artists under the collective theme of ‘Biosphere’.
As part of this year’s festival, Belfast Photo Festival were awarded a £140K grant by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to commission five photographers to explore our changing climate through their work. Thanks to National Lottery players, the five photographers worked closely with conservation groups and local communities. Their work highlights themes including the Belfast Hills, Lough Neagh, peatland, and marine areas.
‘Hill Pictures’
The theme of the wider Belfast Hills was selected by Polly Garnett. Garnett is a community artist and educator who previously worked with Belfast Hills Partnership as part of our Wild Youth team. Garnett’s project documents conservation efforts and the connections of young people with the landscape of the wider Belfast Hills. With a socially engaged and participatory approach, Garnett employed polaroid and digital photography as a tool for dialogue. The work explored relationships with the Belfast Hills Partnership, the National Trust and grass roots community and conservation groups.
Describing the resultant exhibition as a ‘love letter to the Belfast Hills’, Garnett describes how her time working with young people in the Belfast Hills inspired the project. Taking inspiration from poet Seamus Heaney and previous Belfast Photo Festival artist Richard Moss, the exhibition explores the relationship between people and place, from an eye level perspective that catapults viewers into the world of the Belfast Hills, including Cave Hill and Divis and the Black Mountain.
Whilst largely highlighting the positive experience of spending time outdoors, Garnett doesn’t ‘shy away’ from issues facing the Hills either. ‘Hill Pictures’ documents the aftermath of wildfires and the preventative measures being taken to tackle the issue by the Belfast Hills Partnership volunteers.
Wild Youth
Young people are at the heart of ‘Hill Pictures’. Working on the Wild Youth project whilst with Belfast Hills Partnership provided a direct line of insight into the impact on young people’s health and wellbeing as a result of spending time in green spaces first-hand to Garnett. This in turn inspired ‘Hill Pictures’ to not just document Garnett’s perspective of others but to allow them their own narrative as captured through polaroid photos.
The photography project was a collaboration between the photographer and the Wild Youth project. During three outdoor workshops, young people got hands-on experience of polaroid photography. While experimenting with photography techniques they captured their exploration of Cave Hill and Divis and the Black Mountain.
Speaking at the festival launch, a youth panel spoke about their involvement with the project as both artists and young people simply enjoying their time in nature. One youth panellist had this to say – “One of the highlights for me was the creativity. Not just with the pictures but we also done a fun dance!”
You can read more about this and other projects featured in the Belfast Photo Festival by visiting their website. Belfast Photo Festival runs from the 5th – 30th June 2025 in Botanic Gardens.