Top Gallery SAC: Recuperation … a photographic exhibition by Phillip England

Recuperation a photographic exhibition by Phillip England
The Top Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart Nov2-29, 2015
Artist’s talk, 12pm Nov7

www.salarts.org.au/event/recuperation/

High resolution photographic panoramas made in regrowing logged forests in Tasmania, Lithuania and Finland investigate our relationship with and perception of forestscapes and natural places in the context of exploitation.

Wilderness photography draws attention to pristine, wild spaces; a modern manifestation of the Sublime in art. But wilderness implies its opposite: places bearing the mark of human activity and exploitation. What of these places and the photographic muse?

The forlorn and damaged air pervading logged and so called managed forests is in part counterbalanced by the vigor and tenacity of the recuperating forest ecosystem. These forests have a dignity which is perhaps easily overlooked; a beauty which can be compelling.

Recuperation was my response to the melancholy sense of loss I feel in Tasmanian native forests bearing the imprint of industrial scale clear felling for woodchips; a practice that has partly defined Tasmania’s relationship with its natural heritage. By photographing these forests I have developed a new relationship with them in which there is, at least for me, some room for hope.

“By creating horizontal rather than vertical images Phillip makes us look into the images – into the undergrowth, the regeneration. We are allowed space to wander – to use our imagination – to speculate. I can’t help but be captivated by the energy of these spaces –the signs of growth and movement. To me these are images of hope. They ask us to consider our relationship with the land – to move towards a more accommodating and subtle relationship.” Dr Ruth Frost UTAS.

Recuperation investigates and documents rather than advocates. These places are witness to human activity, exploitation and sometimes greed but they also demonstrate the wondrous spontaneity of natural ecological recovery.

www.phillipengland.com
Salamanca Arts Centre