The Land and Us

I went to visit ArtHouse Jersey for an exhibition named “The Land and Us”. This is an exhibition which was created as a way to reconnect and prioritise Jersey’s ecosystem, whilst exploring the past, present and future habitation of the Island. This exhibition included the work of various photographers such as Alexander Mourant, Hannah Fletcher, Remi Graves, Alice Burnhope and Sam Carvosso and many of the pieces have been created in collaboration with groups such as Youthful Minds, Highlands College, Dementia Jersey, Cheval Roc care home and Hautlieu School. These are some of my favourite pieces which I saw at this exhibition:

This is a recreation of dolmens from when our ancestors were building them 6000 years ago. This structure was created by Alice Burnhope with the use of naturally dyed waste textiles, community embroideries, reclaimed zips, threads, scrim foam and hay. I personally really admire this piece as I think it is amazing how much detail there is when you look closely and the amount of thought that would have had to go into it to ensure that each piece will hold.

This is a piece of sweet chestnut wood which has been engraved by Alexander Mourant, in collaboration with EYECAN. The carving in this wood represents St Martins Village Green and is a sensory piece in which they advise people to feel and imagine they are walking through a landscape.

As you can see here, there were paths which were created around the art gallery in the shape of the Island. These paths were made by Sam Carvosso with materials such as wood, sand, gravel, soil and hoggin. It is said that he chose these materials based on how long it took to walk each section. As you can also see below, he created an elevated area to represent the steep inclines of the North Coast. I really liked this feature of the art gallery as I think that it was a good representation of the nature of the island.

This is a piece which was created by Hannah Fletcher in collaboration with Hautlieu School and it is a chemigram which was made using silver gelatine paper and craic based photographic developer. I personally really like the abstract appearance of this piece and believe it looks like oil spillage, with links with Anthropocene.

These are various species of seaweed which had been pressed and selected by Hannah Fletcher. I really like the look of this piece and was quite surprised as I never knew how many different types of seaweed there were.

At first glance I thought that these were real rocks, however, they have been made by Sam Carvosso and Highlands Art School in Greve de Lecq woods using plaster. In the art gallery, they displayed a film showing how they made these on the trees and then collected moss to decorate them. I really admire the hard work they put into making these and how real they look.

Overall, there was a lot of impressive artwork displayed at this exhibition, my personal favourite definitely being the dolmans as I liked how vibrant and large-scale they were. I also liked how they used recycled materials for many of these pieces and collaborated with local communities/groups.

Burtynsky was a Canadian Photographer, who was famously known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. He has multiple locations all over the globe that represent the increasing development of industrialization and the impacts it has on nature and humans existence.

Burtynsky’s photographic style is characterized by the sublime nature of the scale of his photographs. He takes photos very far away from buildings, objects and environments with a large-format view camera, which shows humanity’s scarring on the landscapes which he makes his subject by always focusing on the consequences of global consumerism.

Some techniques Burtynsky uses is that he will get a variety of technology to achieve different perspectives, including traditional helicopters, fixed-wing planes, remote controlled drones, lifts and a fifty-foot pneumatic pole. He uses these methods in his photography to help with the Anthropocene look, with the plastic/metal and other materials affecting the environment and earth.

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky was born in 1955 in Ontario after his parents migrated in 1951 to Canada. He is a famous, Canadian artist who is known for his large format photographs of industrial landscapes. Burtynsky is known as one of Canada’s most respected photographers. He conveys the unsettling reality of parts of the world that has surreal qualities of human-altered landscapes, and locations that represent the increasing development of industrialization and its impacts on nature and the human existence. His photographs are included in the collections of over sixty major museums around the world, including the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art- New York, and the Tate Modern- London.

Influence on photography

When Burtynsky was 11, his father purchased a darkroom, including cameras and instruction manuals, from a widow whose late husband practiced amateur photography. This gave him a starting point of starting photography as a hobby. In the early 1970s, Burtynsky found work in printing and he started night classes in photography. From the mid-1970s to early 1980s, Burtynsky formally studied graphic arts and photography. He obtained a diploma in graphic arts in Ontario, 1976, and a BAA in Photographic Arts in Toronto, Ontario, in 1982. Burtynsky’s early influences include Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eadweard Muybridge, and Carleton Watkins, whose prints he saw at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the early 1980s.

Examples of his work:

Burtynsky’s photos are unique, and are purposely a vivid reminders of humanity’s impact on the planet in haunting aerial photographs. His Anthropocene photos can be seen as beautiful, but also scary and daunting. They are different to other photographer’s images as he captures the truth around the world from an above angle- an aerial view. His large-format view depicts humanity’s scarring on the landscapes. He creates the subject, with “astonishing colour and relentless detail”, always focusing on the consequences of global consumerism.

Anthropocene is the time which humans are having a substantial impact on our planet -basically the influence human activity is currently having on the planet.

The causes of Anthropocene are: agriculture, urbanisation, deforestation and pollution.

How and why are photographers exploring Anthropocene?

Photographers are exploring Anthropocene by documenting the impact humans are having on the planet. They are doing it to spread awareness and educate people on the damage we are causing to the earth. This is because Anthropocene causes Global warming, habitat loss, destruction of natural habitats and extinction.

The Anthropocene Project

Edward Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer, helped create the Anthropocene project, with Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal. The project aimed to investigate the human influence and the future of the planet. They did this by responding with photography, film and augmented reality.

Mood board of photos from the Project

Mind map