Ollie Morris
Ollie's work explores the complex and evolving relationships between people and their environments, with a current emphasis on access to rural spaces. His practice is driven by themes of transition, mental health, and identity, often examining how these personal and societal shifts intersect with landscape and place.
He is actively involved in the campaign for a Right to Roam in England—advocating for greater public access to natural landscapes and challenging historical restrictions on land use. His photographic work frequently responds to the wide-reaching political and personal impacts of these topics, blending documentary approaches with a sensitive, personal perspective.
“Cold Case” examines the traces people have left on the natural world. Taking the form of a forensic investigation, the project is a collection of evidence of human presence—discarded remnants, scars on the land, and signs of quiet decay. Framed as a criminal investigation, stemming from the return to the real world from the tight restraints of agoraphobia. The viewer is met with landscapes that feel detached from romantic ideals of wild spaces. Spaces untouched by human presence are a distant memory. With the extent of the exploitation, the idea of wilderness feels increasingly fragile. The work reflects on the period of convalescence after a mental health crisis and the growing disconnect between people and the environments they move through, highlighting the quiet consequences of what has been altered, abandoned, or erased. The investigation is not just forensic—it is deeply personal, revealing a disillusionment with what is found upon reclaiming freedom from the limits of mental illness.
Find more of Ollie’s work below: