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    Into the Orchard

    Next: Saturday, 18 October 2025

    Runs until Sunday, 22 February 2026 (See all dates)

    Time
    10:00 - 17:00
    Venue
    Firstsite, Colchester, CO1 1JH
    Price
    Free

    Take a walk through the seasons at Crapes Fruit Farm in Essex in this immersive exhibition by artists Hana Loftus and Maddie Persent.

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    Take a walk through the seasons at Crapes Fruit Farm in Essex in this immersive audio-visual exhibition by artists Hana Loftus and Maddie Persent.

    A year in the orchard
    Beginning in January 2024, the artists documented a year’s cycle at Crapes – a sixteen-acre orchard near Aldham where over two hundred varieties of apple, as well as pears, plums, gages, quince, and medlar are grown and distributed nationwide.
    Walking the orchards with farmer Andrew Tann, they recorded sounds and captured photographs that reveal the quiet rhythms of farm life.

    What to expect
    Now this captivating world of Crapes comes to Firstsite. Step into the orchard and journey through the seasons in an immersive audio-visual installation created by the two artists.
    Through projected images and sounds drawn from the audio field recordings, experience birdsong, the rustle of leaves, and the changing sights of soil, trees, tools, and fruit.
    You’ll explore the daily work, seasonal changes, and rich biodiversity that make Crapes so unique.
    Alongside the installation, archival material traces the story of this century-old fruit farm, nurtured through three generations of the Tann family since 1922.
    Over this time, it has evolved into an extraordinary place through Andrew’s curiosity and experimentation focused on a partnership with the ecosystem, rather than seeking its domination.

    About the artists
    Hana Loftus is a writer and designer with a focus on rural places. Her work has encompassed architecture, landscape design and planning as well as writing and documenting places and people in a range of media.
    Hana is co-director of the architecture and planning practice HAT Projects, based in Colchester and working in communities across East Anglia and beyond. Born in Suffolk and of Japanese and English parentage, she is currently working on her first book, which was shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize earlier in 2025.

    Maddie Persent takes photographs, mostly on 35mm film. Born in Colchester and shaped by formative years in Tokyo, she is interested in photographing places and built forms.
    After years of working with her phone as a medium, she returned to film in 2023. For her, the process is as important as the image; in an age of instant access and endless screens, film offers space to slow down, listen and capture what could otherwise be overlooked.

    The exhibition has been made possible with the support of Arts Council England, Trevor Fenwick, and Tiptree (Wilkin & Sons Limited).


    Photo courtesy:
    Photography by Maddie Persent, Apples ripening in the orchard.

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    Venue

    Firstsite
    Lewis Gardens, High Street, Colchester, Essex
    Colchester
    CO1 1JH

    More details for this venue

    Dates

    The event runs from 10:00 to 17:00 on the following dates.
    Select a date to add this event to your calendar app.

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