For the first time in human history, more people are living in urban environments than in the countryside, yet the impulse to seek out nature remains as strong as ever. This new exhibition of photographs – by leading British photographers such as Shirley Baker, Bill Brandt, Anna Fox, Chris Killip, Peter Mitchell, Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones – explores our evolving relationship with the natural world and how this shapes individuals and communities.
 
Drawn from the collection of Claire and James Hyman, which comprises more than 3,000 photographs ranging from conceptual compositions to documentary-style works, Modern Nature will include around 60 photographs taken since the end of the Second World War, through the beginnings of de-industrialisation to the present day. It will explore the merging of urban and rural landscapes, the rapid expansion of cities and the increasingly intrusive management of the countryside.

(Main image: John Payne, aged 12, with friends and his pigeon Chequer. From the Free Photographic Omnibus. Portsmouth, Friday 26 April 1974)

Modern Nature: British Photographs from the Hyman Collection is on at The Hepworth in Wakefield unti April 22, 2019.