Biography

For over 30 years, Tessa Bunney has photographed rural life, working closely with individuals and communities to investigate how the landscape is shaped by humans. From hill farmers near her home in North Yorkshire to Icelandic puffin hunters, from Romanian nomadic shepherds to Lincolnshire flower farmers her projects reveal the fascinating intricacies of the dependencies between people, work and the land.

FarmerFlorist was published by Another Place Press as part of their Field Notes series and in early 2020 her exhibition ‘Otherwise Unseen’, bringing together four series which explore various rural communities in Europe and South East Asia was shown at the Side Gallery in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Britain’s only documentary photography gallery.

Between 2012 and 2016 Tessa was based in Laos where she was working on her long term project ‘The Corridor of Opportunity’ which was supported by Arts Council England and undertaking editorial and NGO commissions throughout the Southeast Asia region. Her series ‘The Women of UCT6’ which documents an all-female UXO clearance team in Laos was published in the Financial Times Magazine (UK) and online.

Recent work includes ‘Made out of Orchards’ which was commissioned, published and exhibited by the Martin Parr Foundation and ‘Going to the Sand’, an ongoing personal project collaborating with Morecambe Bay fishermen which will be published by Another Place Press in 2023.

She is the recipient of the TPA/RPS Environmental Bursary 2023 to continue her work with fishermen along the Teesside and Yorkshire coastline following the devastating wash-up of crabs and lobsters on which their livelihoods depend.

She regularly gives talks about her work to a wide range of community groups, galleries, schools and universities and is currently lecturer in Photography at YorkSJ University.