Photography of rocks and rock surfaces printed and rephotographed in a studio setting. An initial photograph of the rocks surface has been printed and manipulated in the studio to mimic the shape of a natural rock. I thought it was interesting that the artist had chosen a man made sculpture to portray a natural form. I have a few thoughts on what the message behind this decision could be – maybe it’s a reaction to the way our world is advancing in technology and the idea that we have less and less need for a humans skills (the body is another natural form that features in Orton’s photographs). Or potentially a response to the way the planet is changing physically and the theory that we might actually have to build or rebuild our planet someday. There were also natural rocks on display in the exhibition but my attention was initially far more drawn to the large-scale prints draped over wooden stands and hanging loosely on the wall. There was one photograph of an organic rock and this was the only print that was properly framed and secured to wall while the rest were unframed and some were left purposely loose at the edges. This contrast could reflect the idea that natural things have more security since forms like rocks have proven to stand the test of time while our man made lifestyles have only existed for a fraction of the planets existence and its longevity is potentially unknown.
Natural forms
Rocks
The Human Form
Manmade or manipulated surfaces
Advancing technology
The Earth
Natural Forms
Natural
Rock
Stone
Water
Human
Body
Organic
Real
Manmade or manipulated
Manipulated
Changed
Altered
Built
Designed
Digital
Fictional
Unreal
Fictional
Richard Longs’s ‘Ten days walking and Sleeping on Natural Ground‘ is another good example of an art piece representing a natural form through a man made medium. In text he describes a ten day long walk he took in Scotland.
Will AI Soon Be the Best Forgers? This article I found on frieze.com is an example of how artificial intelligence can successfully complete a task that before major advances in technology only a human could have done.
When researching for this body of work, based on the idea that the work is a reaction to our changing lifestyles and our changing planet, the artist would definitely have looked at current events relating to these things because information on those topics is inexhaustible. I think this link may have been relevant during the research for this project.
The below was detailed in the exhibition ‘Strata-Rock-Dust-Stars’ at York Art Gallery.
‘Liz Orton (b.1967)
The Longest and Darkest of Recollections (2016)
Inkjet and C-type photographs; stones; text
Orton’s artistic processis concerned with entanglements of landscape, technology and the body. She engages largely with archives, both real and imagined, to explore the tensions between personal and systematic forms of knowledge.
The Longest and Darkest of Recollections considers notions of time, memory and the construction of knowledge. Photographs taken both in the field and studio explore and reimagine the methods and gestures used by geologists searching for evidence in the ‘deep time’ of rock formations. Orton develops material connections between surfaces of the body, rocks and paper.
The work is informed by Orton’s visual research into the practices of touch and measurement used by geologists. It speaks of an ongoing curiosity about geology, and the systems used to categorise the earth and time. Combining scientific and sensual knowledge, she questions the role of photography as evidence.’
I like the notion of questioning the idea of photography as evidence, it’s especially interesting within our technologically advanced environment. A photograph could be staged and a scene could be just as real as a rock moulded out of paper.
