Cultivating Equality

The latest exhibition from We Feed The UK celebrates women-led initiatives producing nature-friendly food for Scotland. Scottish photographer Sophie Gerrard has studied two ground-breaking examples: Lauriston Farm , a 100-acre site near Edinburgh run by a majority-women workers cooperative as a local response to the lack of affordable, healthy food; and Nikki Yoxall of Grampian Graziers , using native cattle to restore the species-rich, carbon-absorbing grasslands in decline across the Cairngorms. Their efforts are examples of urban and rural responses to global issues of climate change, food security and biodiversity loss.

Sons inherit Scottish farms 85% of the time, yet over half of the UK’s family farm workers are women. The Scottish government’s own Women in Agriculture Taskforce concluded that their contribution to the sector can be “undervalued, downplayed or simply unseen”. This exhibition aims to change that.

Sophie is an award-winning photographer based in Edinburgh. Her practice is characterised by a sensitive and evocative visual exploration of the natural environment and landscape and our relationship to it. Central themes in her work are people, environmental connection, identity and belonging. With a background in environmental science her work is often as much an exploration of other people’s lives and connections with landscape as her own.

Initiated by The Gaia Foundation with collaborators across the country, We Feed the UK pairs ten photographers and ten Hot Poets with ten stories in ten regions. Their work is being shared in partnership with ten arts organisations, of which Street Level is one, between February 2024 and May 2025, supported by evidence from ten environmental allies who are leading the regenerative farming movement. See a list of collaborations here

The exhibition launches on 27 April 3-5pm, featuring a live performance of specially commissioned poetry by Iona Lee. Part of Sustain's UK-wide Good To Grow Week.

On Saturday 11th May there will be a Panel discussion from 2 till 4.30pm, chaired by Katie Revell from Farmerama, featuring Nikki Yoxall from Grampian Graziers, Lisa Houston from Lauriston Farm and Sinéad Fortune from the Seed Sovereignty UK and Ireland Programme and Sophie Gerrard.