Ingrid Pollard is an artist trained in photography and film, with a background in drawing and printmaking. Her ongoing artistic interests include portraiture and identity, belonging and heritage, and the exploration of England’s romantic landscape traditions and their hidden histories connected to Africa and the Caribbean.

During her residency at Highgreen, Ingrid recorded the changing seasons while researching the area’s local histories. She arrived with the idea of creating a camera obscura — a project that quickly gathered enthusiasm among local residents. With support from the Northumberland National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund, Ingrid was able to realise her ambition by constructing a portable camera obscura. The design allowed it to be used as a shared community resource, enabling schools and local events to experience its unique blend of art and optical science.

The completed camera obscura was first taken to Otterburn First School, where around fifty pupils explored its workings. It was then shown at Falstone Show and Bellingham Show, offering visitors the opportunity to experience a different way of seeing their familiar surroundings. The project reflected Ingrid’s long-standing interest in how place, light, and observation shape our sense of identity and belonging.

Ingrid’s residency culminated in an exhibition that opened in August 2013. The exhibition showcased new works developed at Highgreen, alongside documentation of her experiments with photography, light, and landscape. The show celebrated both the subtlety of her visual investigations and her engagement with the rural community that inspired them.

Community collaboration formed an important part of Ingrid’s time at Highgreen. Since her first open studio event and tea party in October, she had led a series of workshops for local people interested in photography. Over the winter, she transformed her studio into a darkroom and held sessions in pinhole camera making and black-and-white photography, which proved popular and inspiring — some participants even purchased medium format cameras afterwards.

Ingrid also worked with pupils from Greenhaugh First School, introducing them to photography through hands-on activities. Younger children created shadow puppets based on their own portraits, while older pupils visited Highgreen to explore positive and negative imagery and build their own pinhole cameras.

Through these projects and the creation of the camera obscura, Ingrid Pollard left a lasting legacy of creativity, curiosity, and community engagement in the Tarset Valley.