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2027 SUMMER CONFERENCE  //  9th July 2027

In July 2027, The Institute of Photography at Falmouth University, in partnership with the Gaia Foundation and Kestle Barton will host a conference exploring how photography and visual culture might help us think differently about the relationships, flows and transformations that shape our environments.

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Call For Papers

Watershed  is a one-day research conference exploring how photography and visual culture might help us think differently about the relationships, flows and transformations that shape our environments.

We are interested in the interstitial spaces and systems between ‘things': soil and sea, field and river, coast and community, human and more-than-human, extraction and regeneration, memory, and future.

Ecological change resists containment within a single place, or discipline. Water holds histories, pollutants, nutrients, and stories. Agricultural practices shape rivers and seas. Coastal communities are connected to food systems, weather patterns, cycles, and global economies. Landscapes are shaped by ownership, labour, migration, extraction, and care.

Photography is deeply implicated in how these relationships are felt and understood.

Images have been enrolled in the construction of ideas of landscape, wilderness, countryside and the 'natural world'. They have documented environmental change, recorded communities, and created archives of places in transition. But photography can also do more than describe what is already visible. It can create relationships, reveal connections, make systems perceptible, and allow us to imagine what might otherwise remain difficult to see.

We invite contributions that explore, question or complicate these relationships.

. .

We welcome critical, theoretical and practice-based submissions from any related field.

We are particularly interested in work engaging with:

LAND
Landscape, agriculture, rural futures, land use and changing relationships to place.

WATER
Rivers, oceans, coastlines, hydropolitics, marine environments and the movement of water.

ENTANGLEMENTS
Soil, biodiversity, multispecies relationships, more-than-human perspectives and ecological interdependence.

POWER
Ownership, enclosure, colonialism, resource extraction, environmental justice and contested landscapes.

CULTIVATION
Regeneration, repair, care, alternative food systems, ecological practices and new relationships with land and water.

FUTURES
Speculation, climate imaginaries, future landscapes, resilience, adaptation and the possibility of ecological transformation.


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Watershed is intended as a space for different forms of knowledge to meet.

We welcome:

• research papers and theoretical propositions
• practice-based research
• photographic and artistic projects
• works-in-progress
• collaborative and participatory approaches
• experimental presentations and other forms of critical enquiry

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If you are interested in presenting, please see the information below.

Please submit:

• 200 word abstract - outlining your presentation.
• Link to website or relevant online space.

Submission Deadline: 15th January 2027
Notification of acceptance: February 2027

email submissions to oliver.udy@falmouth.ac.uk


Attendance:
There will be no fee for speakers, but you must arrange your own travel and accommodation.
Lunch will be provided on the day.

. . .

The conference will be part of a 3-day event hosted by Falmouth University, Kestle Barton and the Gaia Foundation.

Day 1 / 9th July = Falmouth University / Penryn Campus - Watershed conference
Day 2 / 10th July = Kestle Barton - Voices of the movement
Day 3 / 11th July = Kestle Barton - Artists and Water

There will be a separate booking form to attend the events at Kestle Barton.


. . . . 

CONFERENCE PRACTICALITIES:

LOCATION:
Falmouth University,
Penryn Campus,
Treliever Road,
Penryn,
Cornwall,
TR10 9FE.


Map:
Look HERE for the Institute of Photography location.


Travel:

Travel by car - Penryn Campus - Parking is paid on site.  More info - HERE

Travel by rail - change at Truro for Penryn. A short walk to campus, or regular buses.


Accommodation:

There are options in Falmouth or Penryn.

There is a regular bus service between Falmouth to Penryn Campus.

Guest Houses and BnBs:
https://www.visitfalmouth.com/accommodation/accommodation_type/guest-houses/ 

Camping:
https://www.pitchup.com/campsites/England/South_West/Cornwall/Truro/cosawes-park/

Student Halls:
https://cornwall-plus.co.uk/stay/accommodation/


Campus Information:

For accessibility information, campus map and sustainability information please visit:
https://fxplus.ac.uk/campus-information/


Accessibility Guide:
https://www.accessable.co.uk/falmouth-university/penryn-campus