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HORSE NATION
Dean Chapman
Saturday 21 June to Saturday 23 August
Dean was initially drawn into documenting this territory, back in 2000, photographing teenagers exercising their horses on a housing estate near Bishop Auckland as part of his Coalfield Stories project Shifting Ground. His introduction to the horsey world of harness racing came through Amber’s Murray Martin, who was an active member of the trotting community. In 2003 and 2004 Dean documented the race meetings of the United Kingdom Standard-bred Racing Association, which Murray helped to set up and run. The races were held across County Durham, but Dean followed the story to stables in Wallsend, small horse fairs such as Fencehouses, drives, road races and, of course, to Appleby.
Horse Nation constitutes one of the central photographic essays in a long-term project upon which Dean has embarked, working across the North East, recording the relationship between man and beast – the working, racing and hunting animals around which so many communities and individuals shape their identity.