AN exhibition is set to put the spotlight on farming in Dorset.

Duke’s Auctioneers in Dorchester are hosting the exhibition, which includes local artwork from international climate change organization Cape Farewell, in association with The Arts Development Company, Dorset.

As part of the event, there will also be a farmer’s question time from 6pm on Thursday (aug11) and children’s workshops from 10am to 12pm and 1pm to 3pm tomorrow (weds).

Cape Farewell are a social force, working with climate scientists, economists and social innovators to produce art, film and literature with the aim to engage and educate the public, and counter climate change with culture. They worked with creatives including artist Anthony Gormley, author Ian McEwan, and musicians KT Tunstall and Jarvis Cocker. In 2013 they launched a program of Rural Artist Residencies in the South West, and sent artists to Dorset to explore the issues facing rural farming culture.

Artist Chris Drury and poet-novelist Kay Syrad worked alongside three organic Dorset farms. The result is a work called, ‘Exchange’, a hand-made book nearly 60cm tall and bound in cowhide, which is the result of a two-year collaboration. Combining Drury’s artwork and Syrad’s prose and poetry, the book contains the stories of the farmers.

The second residency asked ‘How do we feed the planet, without it costing the earth?’. Ecologist Nessie Reid lived with two pure-bred Guernsey cows for five days in the centre of Bristol for this project. ‘The Milking Parlour’ show sought to explore the current state of UK farming; its major role in biodiversity loss and climate change.

This provocative and live show asked us to question what we put into our shopping baskets – and bodies - and how it impacts on all our futures. It attracted thousands of visitors each day, and garnered major press interest, from BBC News to the Jeremy Vine show.

This exhibition at Duke’s will bring the results of the show; a documentary film, audio installation, photographs and community feedback to a wider South West audience.

The two exhibitions can be viewed at Duke’s Auctioneers until August 31, and are free to attend, with all welcome to go along and attend.

The farmer’s question time will be a discussion about the production of our food in the local area, and Dorset’s rural economy. It is free to attend, but booking is essential.

The children’s workshops will enable youngsters to produce their own Dorset chalk grassland using pop up and chalk paint with the artist Sarah Butterworth. They will learn the basics of making pop up, and then get their hands mucky grinding and mixing chalk into paint, producing beautiful pop up flowers and trees that then pop up.

To book the children’s workshops please call Jo at the Arts Development Company on 01305 224 244.

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e: rachel.stretton

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