Natural & Human History within the Local Commons – Lecture & Film About Black Pond Esher

The film originates with two photographs of a young boy taken in the summer and winter of 1939 at Black Pond, Surrey. Using archive photographs, maps, aerial surveys, infrared photographs and filmed event of recent felling, the film explores human’s relationship with and within landscape and nature.

Together with excerpts from ‘Black Pond’, this lecture will explore not only how these wild places and species provide a window into our past but also our own interactions with nature. Jessica Sarah Rinland is an artist-filmmaker whose work was shown internationally, winning numerous awards. Natural history, science and the use of celluloid are her recurring themes. She won the ICA Award for Best Experimental Film for ‘Electric Oil’ at the 2013 London Short Film Festival.

Edgar Royston Pike, formerly Chairman of the Esher Council, introduced the ‘Esher Library Lectures’ in the late sixties. In 1974, Elmbridge Borough Council changed the title of these lectures to the ‘Royston Pike Lectures’ in appreciation of his 20 years’ work on the Library Committee.
Now in their 42nd year the Royston Pike Lecture Series continues to attract audiences with its eclectic mix of subjects and speakers and the current series hopes to continue on the legacy set by its founder. This season will see the lectures held in several new Elmbridge venues as well as some old familiar ones.