"Fay was now on her own, and able to develop and explore a new dimension of her art. From an urban life as a 60s north London wife, mother and hostess, she set out on a long journey into the wilder landscapes of Britain, sometimes in company, sometimes alone, often on foot, and built up over time a body of work that reflects a deep sense of place and the poetry of place. In 1970 she met Ted Hughes, with whom she formed a creative partnership which was to result in his lament for the Calder Valley, Remains of Elmet (1979). Perhaps the best known of her collaborations, this volume was very much poem-led. She responded strongly to his vision of the ruined mills, the "melting corpses of farms", the Satanic majesty, the sluttish subsidy sheep, the black chimneys, the cemeteries, the millstone grit, the willow herb. It was through Hughes, she said, that she got to know England.'
Photographer Fay Godwin is best known for her collaborative works with writers like Ted Hughes (Remains of Elmet) and John Fowles (Islands). However,many consider her towering achievement to be her seminal work Land , first published a quarter of a century ago.To celebrate this work,The National Media Museum in Bradford are currently running a exhibition-Fay Godwin-Land Revisited until March 27th.
This Friday,celebrated writer and friend Margaret Drabble remembers the most poetic of photographers.
