The Heath - 26

This colour photograph of bathers in a pond on Hampstead Heath in North London is part of Sewell’s five-year project (2006-2011) documenting the paradoxical nature of the Heath, which is managed to feel wild: "Hampstead Heath was once part of the countryside surrounding London and is now a green fragment deep within the urban landscape. It is a place of ancient trees, tall grass and thickets dense enough to get lost in - if only briefly. I go to the Heath to be somewhere that feels natural, yet I know this is no pathless wood. The Heath is as managed as any other part of London but managed to feel wild. In a way this project is about perceptions of what is natural, but it's also an attempt to explore what EO Wilson called the human condition of 'Biophilia', being drawn to somewhere that feels natural without knowing why. Over the last five years I have spent many hours walking on the Heath. With this set of pictures I hope to convey something of what I was looking for and what I found."