Zoe Childerley is an artist working across photography, drawing, and video, with experience in commissions and residencies in the UK, Europe, and the United States. She had collaborated with a wide range of artists, communities, and organisations, and exhibited her work widely.

For Zoe’s 6-month VARC residency, she was particularly interested in exploring the relationship between individuals and the landscapes they inhabit. She focused on photographing people living in and around Tarset and the North Tyne Valley. A central aim of her residency was to walk the length of the Anglo-Scottish border, meeting residents on both sides and exploring how the landscape shaped their lives, cultural identity, and sense of place.

During her Border Walk, Zoe encountered the wild, remote terrain that had once been home to the Reivers. She considered the historical and contemporary significance of the border, reflecting on issues of nationalism, sovereignty, and identity. As she explained, the region had a “tumultuous and bloody past” and had been both disputed and romanticised. Recent referendums had exposed renewed anxieties about sovereignty, making the border once again a space of political and cultural importance.

Photographs taken during Zoe’s residency and Border Walk were exhibited in her end of residency show, presenting portraits of the people she met and scenes of the landscape they inhabited. In addition, Zoe produced an artist’s book, published by VARC in a limited edition, which included a small print and an essay by Dr Mike Collier of the WALK Research Group, University of Sunderland. The production of the book was supported financially by WALK.

Community engagement was an important aspect of Zoe’s residency. She led cyanotype workshops for children at local schools including Greenhaugh, West Woodburn, and Otterburn, which were well received and enthusiastically participated in by the pupils. Additionally, Zoe collaborated with artist Loz Atkinson to welcome a group of students from Hexham Priory School for a day of painting and simple photographic activities at Highgreen.

Throughout her residency, Zoe combined walking, observation, and photography to explore questions of place, history, and identity, producing work that engaged both the local community and broader audiences. Her photographs, installations, and artist’s book created a lasting record of her exploration of the Anglo-Scottish borderlands and the people who inhabit them.