TO MAKE THE WASTELAND GROW
The residents of the Runnymede Eco Village all agreed: modern living is fundamentally broken. So the 40 of them decided they wanted nothing to do with it. On the side of Cooper's Hill, under the cover of oak, sycamore, and birch trees, they are living in the woods. This 24-acre plot of disused land, 30 miles west of London, was their home from 2012-2015.
They all came for different reasons. Some were homeless before they found this self-sustaining community. Others gave up houses and nine-to-five jobs to join. The residents are attempting to question the conventions of consumerism, land ownership and the right to natural resources. And for them, the village seems to have provided an answer.
They call themselves Diggers, after a group of land activists who occupied St. George's Hill in 1649. The original Diggers believed that land had become over-privatized. As long as they were cultivating and caring for the area they inhabited, they claimed, they had a right to remain.
This project is a record of a community trying to redefine what is required for human survival and human happiness, intentionally unmoored from modern society.
A small, handmade, limited edition book of this work is available through 10(X) Editions: you can find more information here.
