Durlescombe is an ongoing series of photographs made in Devon in the South West of England. The work documents the people, landscapes and local industries of a fading rural culture and in doing so explores Robert’s identity and attachment to a region where generations of his family once lived and worked. The chapters of Durlescombe mirror the seasons and reflect the rhythms of rural life, growth, death, and rebirth. Durlescombe is a layered assemblage of documentary photographs, illustrations and archival images.
In 1631 William Darch was born in Dolton and he became the first in a long line of millers that would own and work grain mills across Devon. Many generations later, Robert’s four times great-grandfather and namesake owned and ran the mill in North Tawton until his death in 1805.
When fully realised the work will be separated into distinct chapters. The Gallery above contains a selected overview of all the work made to date.
Horry Mill, 1890 (Estimated). From the Old Beaford Archive. James Darch, the Miller is lying down with the dog.
“In his search for connection Darch has found a visible, almost tangible thread that holds the rural past inseparable from the present. It’s there in all his images, caught in the play of landscape, life and light. As simple as the truth in the face of the plucker, is the truth that however far we move forward with machinery or technology our connections to the land and the cycle of the seasons is unbreakable. It’s who we are, it’s the root of our very existence. It’s Durlescombe.” Raynor Winn
Portrait of Robert Darch stood next to the gravestone of his 3 X Great Grandfather, Robert Darch (1801 - 1887), North Tawton, 1981. Photo by Peter Darch.
“Darch's documentary-style images, both archival and contemporary, of the fictional town of Durlescombe harken back to some of the long-standing questions about the veracity of photography. Ranging from portraits to the smallest details of rural life, the series works together to paint a convincing picture of this non-exsistent village. But beyond this conceptual framework, his photographs are also powerful atmospheric constructions. There's a great tension between stillness and motion in many of his images, used succesfully along with bold composition strategies.” Dr Cliff Lauson, Hayward Gallery, London.