Illustrated Landscapes
Landscapes are cultural manifestations that record the history of mankind's relationship with its territory. Man is vital for the existence of landscape as a concept. In his absence, nature is little more than a random ensemble of topographical, botanical and atmospheric components. As a result, subjectivity, idealization and the ambiguities of memory and desire inevitably influence the way landscape has been represented throughout history. The way these elements pervade our perception of nature, as well as the variety of implications inherent in its representation are the main concerns addressed by this project. Above and beyond their necessity to replicate visible content, these images intend to translate sensorial experiences arising from both memory and physical presence. I use photography and video searching to erase their technical frontiers and expand each medium's particular descriptive and narrative attributes.
This project is shaped by my experiences in the landscape and the reflections that arise regarding how man relates with his natural milieu, either as an observer, an inhabitant or an agent of transformation. Its aim is to become a visual, personal atlas of the botanical, geological and climatic diversity of the northern Andes mountain range, from the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, to the Chimborazo volcano and the peruvian desert. I intend to represent the beauty of nature's vastness as well as the fragility of the infinitesimal particles that compose it. By recording nature's building blocks -botanics, geology, weather and so on- in the context of a landscape image these works renders the complex and indivisible connections between the grandiose and the miniscule. A leaf is at the same level of importance as a volcano; all matter is alive at it's core.
Illustrated Landscapes is an ongoing endeavour that started more than eight years ago and comprises travels made in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
C. E.