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Factories (triptychs): 2005/07, Photographs (Printed on Fine art archival paper) 34“h x 72“w each
Artist Statement:
My artwork probes the visual, social and environmental encounter zones between natural and industrial landscapes in the contemporary world. One of the ways I do this is through large-scale digital photographs displayed in diptychs or triptychs. By placing nature and industry into dialogue my aim is not to elevate or preserve the natural against the degradations of the industrial (a common enough gesture in both the history of art and in contemporary art practice), but to draw attention to the complex relationship that exists between the two, both in the visual arts and in society more generally. My photowork on urban and industrial spaces around the globe juxtaposes images of unruly, twisted nature with aestheticized views of the industrial landscape in order to bring to light the wild spaces of both nature and industry that current ideas of urban renewal seek to domesticate—either to make spaces safe for recreation (e.g., a walk through ‘untouched’ nature) or to boost property values by making aesthetic pleasing spaces without the taint of industry. I want to create a new visual language for thinking about these industrial-natural zones that rely neither on landscape painting nor modernist fascinations with factory structures, but which tries to think the future in full awareness of the actual character of the landscapes we inhabit.