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David Spero

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John, Sonia, Daisy, Marley and Asha’s under construction, Steward Community Woodland, Devon, August 2004

Canvas-covered roundwood timber-frame house built with reused materials

‘The Longhouse’ communal space and new kitchen, Steward Community Woodland, Devon, November 2004

Canvas-covered structure, part hazel pole bender and part roundwood timber frame, with reused materials. Initial construction 2000

John, Sonia, Daisy, Marley and Asha’s, Steward Community Woodland, Devon, May 2007

Community portrait, Steward Community Woodland, Devon, April 2010

10th anniversary

Seth, Melanie, Ash and Finn’s under construction, Steward Community Woodland, Devon, May 2015

Sawn timber-frame house with waney board cladding and shingle roof (to be laid). Initial construction November 2014

Tony and Faith’s, Brithdir Marw, Pembrokeshire, February 2005

Roundwood timber-frame roundhouse with cobwood walls and turf-covered reciprocal frame roof. Constructed 1997-'98

The big hut, Tir Ysbrydol, Brithdir Marw, Pembrokeshire, October 2004

Roundwood timber-frame hut with cob-rendered straw bale walls and turf-covered reciprocal frame roof. Constructed by Tao 2000

Tony and Faith’s, Brithdir Marw, Pembrokeshire, July 2005

Emma’s garden, Tir Ysbrydol, Brithdir Marw, Pembrokeshire, September 2010

Communal garden, storage bender and cow shed, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, July 2008

Shannon, Chris and Alex’s, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, June 2004

Straw bale and wattle walled hut with canvas and tarpaulin covered bender roof. Previously Michael’s, constructed 1997

Mary and Joe’s, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, June 2004

Roundwood and sawn timber-frame house with thatched roof and waney board cladding. Constructed by Simon and Mary 2001

Communal ‘Roundhouse’ and kitchen, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, February 2006

Roundwood timber-frame roundhouse and connected kitchen, with thatched roof and waney board cladding. Constructed 1995-2000

Communal kitchen, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, August 2004

Communal portrait, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, July 2008

Haymaking, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, July 2005

Charlotte and Niamh’s, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, July 2009

Interior, wood-fuelled steam-powered saw mill under reconstruction, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, August 2013

Sawn timber-frame barn with slab wood walls and waney board clad roof

Emma and Graeme’s (left) and Robin’s (right), Landmatters, Devon, June 2006

Canvas-covered hazel pole benders with reused materials. Constructed 2005

Community portrait, Landmatters, Devon, July 2007

On the day of completing paperwork for the 2007 planning appeal

Rooh’s, Landmatters, Devon, May 2008

Canvas-covered hazel pole bender. Constructed 2005

Robin, Annie and Tawny’s, Landmatters, Devon, July 2009

Dan and Claire’s garden, location undisclosed, September 2008

Beekeeping

Syamala, Veni, Keshi, Muddy and Dharma’s, location undisclosed, September 2010

Two interconnected roundwood timber-frame roundhouses with cob-rendered straw bale walls and turf-covered reciprocal frame roofs

Cath’s, location undisclosed, July 2007

Roundwood timber-frame roundhouse with slab wood and cob-rendered straw bale walls and turf-covered reciprocal frame roof

The Peasant Evolution Producers’ Co-Operative food-processing barn, Fivepenny Farm, West Dorset, July 2010

Sawn and hewn timber-frame barn with waney board cladding and thatched roof. Constructed 2007

Andy, Jane and Jake’s, Lammas, Pembrokeshire, September 2012

Roundwood timber-frame workshop with lime-rendered hay bale walls and turf-covered roof. Constructed 2010

Simon, Jasmine, Cosmo and Elfie’s, Lammas, Pembrokeshire, September 2010

Earth sheltered roundhouse with a reciprocal frame roof on a hybrid roundwood timber frame and load-baring straw-bale wall. Constructed 2009. Workshop for use as temporary dwelling until construction of main home

Return from the pub, Tinkers Bubble, Somerset, June 2005

fullscreen info info info info prev next

The Ball photographs record three-dimensional constellations placed into existing and often transitory or semi-permanent spaces. The placement of the balls, and the constellations they create, form subtle planes that touch, and at moments, envelope the space with their presence.

These homemade celestial planes, tilted through the floors, sills and surfaces of each scene disrupt and transform way we see, creating a sense of stillness, drawing our attention slowly around the scene, mapping out new patterns and connections.

Edited selection.   Print dimensions:   604mm x 760mm

Settlements is an ongoing photographic record of a small number of communities and individuals, based in Britain, who are building and exploring alternative land-based, low impact ways of living. They aim to be ecologically sustainable and for their dwellings, economy and way of life to have a minimal environmental impact. Renewable energy sources are used as are locally sourced natural and recycled building materials.

Taken from 2004 onwards, the photographs chart their evolution and growth seen through homes, communal spaces, infrastructure, food growing areas and periodic community portraits.

They centre on four settlements: Steward Community Woodland, Tir Ysbrydol and The Roundhouse at Brithdir Mawr, Tinkers Bubble and Landmatters. These are followed, for reasons of privacy, by a section titled ‘Locations Undisclosed’, and then by a smaller number of images from two more recent settlements, Fivepenny Farm and Lammas, which evolved out of the preceding settlements and were set up more as communities of smallholders.

The photographs document and reveal a more sustainable way of life and a closer, more balanced and symbiotic relationship with the natural environment. Together they provide a record of communities and individuals whose way of life challenges the mainstream, and in the process expand debates on growth, land use, environment and notions of development and progress.


Settlements was published in March 2017. The book consists of 151 photographs accompanied by settlement introductions written by each of the communities which give accounts of their histories, aims, structures and economies, and texts by the author that explore connected historical and contemporary issues.


This is a selection of photographs from the series, which currently numbers 160.

Print dimensions:   604mm x 760mm   and   230mm x 290mm