Guardians of the Areng Valley
Dawn Yoxall
Luke Duggleby, winner Forestry Commission Exhibition Award 2014
Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2014
15 November 2014 - 1 March 2015
Forestry Commission England is delighted to present Guardians of the Areng Valley by photographer Luke Duggleby, recipient of the inaugural Forestry Commission England Exhibition Award. The award is part of the Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2014 and was selected by Forestry Commission England Director Ian Gambles.
This exhibition is the world premiere of a significant body of work by Duggleby. The photographs shown in the exhibition present Duggleby’s journey into the Cardamom Forest in Southwest Cambodia, focusing on a group of Buddhist monks pioneering a small but influential environmental movement aimed at reversing forest destruction to protect the indigenous peoples and endangered species of the remote Areng Valley.
England’s Public Forests provide a suitably inspiring location to present this exhibition and are the perfect setting in which to reflect on the wider global issues and concerns relating to our environment. The threat faced by woods and forests, to the people and species that inhabit them is a global one. They are places not only of special ecological value but of great cultural significance. However far too often they are perceived only as a resource or perhaps even a hurdle to overcome in the rapid development of land. Duggleby’s photographs are evidence of these opposing perspectives and the conflict in which the latter often prevails.
Duggleby has been a professional photographer working in Asia since 2004. Using Bangkok as his base he regularly travels the continent and further afield shooting assignments for some of the world’s most respected publications and NGOs as well as undertaking personal projects. His images have featured in many respected photography competitions and have been published by clients ranging from The Sunday Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, Greenpeace, Monocle and The New York Times.
