Rachel Payne

‘Consuming Landscapes’ is an immersive audio walk through UK farmland and soilscapes which has been created to be listened to in a large supermarket. Interviews with farmers offer insight into the farming methods that shape the landscape, and in turn how different landscapes produce different foods, demonstrating the importance of locality. Using soundscapes, the walk aims to bring the seasons and the weather into the artificial and controlled interior of the supermarket. 

The audio walk aims to highlight the juxtaposition of the realities of modern farming, which contends with the interplay between our need for food production, care for biodiversity and soil, and our experience of a supermarket which contains very little story of the land and the ecological cost of our shopping baskets. 

The project is situated within the context of the growing urban - rural divide in the UK, as well as rising food costs, food insecurity and changes in agricultural policy prompted by Brexit. The audio walk is aimed at urban supermarket consumers, who are invited to go to their local supermarket and experience this familiar space in a different way.