|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
Caroline HallidayRobert Smithson called his earth projects "abstract geology" Emmet Gowin said of his aerial photographs of marks on the land, that they were "not a call to action.. a call for reflection.. to be on a more intimate basis with the world" An urban project in USA suggests we could always be "thinking like the forest" – for "the forest" substitute "earth". In the urbanised West, what would thinking like soil/earth mean? "Questioner; (to Smithson) I get the idea that maybe your art is not so much to create an object out of earth as it is just to interpret earth and show others what earth is. Is that correct?"
I began working directly with earth/soil in 2004, in a process of exploring what this most basic material could do. It was an exploration of a sculptural material and of the expectations and concepts we allow to soil, particularly in an urbanised western community. Working with earth had a "political" meaning, which was comparatively "acceptable" while I was an art student, unlike other areas I might explore like feminism, ageing, sexuality, (though the actuality of using horse manure disturbed some people). I was not concerned with land art, nor art outside in the land, but art made of earth/soil - dirty stuff - mud and horse manure, or representing the range of colours -browns, reds and whites from Cornwall to the South Downs, to the Midlands or Scotland. Initially I was interested in the concept of what we "see" or ignore. Western urbanites don’t "see" earth, (take it on board), and I created situations where the viewer had to take action to "see". My present work for Down to Earth explores:
| |||||||||||||||
