I have been tackling the growing pile of 2D work relating to Byway 745 Observatory. This includes contour drawings used to build 3D work, numerous photographs, frottage and observational drawings made on site. A great prompt to get on and use some of this material to create stand alone work has come through an MA project focussing on collage. With only a few days to produce a piece for a group exhibition, it was important to be decisive. The photographic images selected to work with were of an oil spill on the chalk, tyre scrubs of 4x4s on the same chalk, and a deep rut viewed from a low viewpoint giving it a sense of the corporeal.
These images chart an abuse of the landscape through the residues carelessly left in it by humans.
Layers of frottage and tyre track mud monoprint on translucent greaseproof paper and photographic prints on tracing paper allow daylight to pick out detail when mounted against a window. The tyre scrub photograph was converted to black and white and given greater contrast. The scale of the photographs needs to be kept smaller than that of the frottage and monoprint or they will dominate. However, more experimentation is needed with this piece, in terms of how the layers are fixed to each other, the formats of the respective elements and the quality of the edges.
The photographs on tracing paper were then laid over the contour drawing to allow the connection to be made between macro and micro. The topography of the hillside and the examination of a tiny part of its surface. An assault on the rock by over 4000 years of human passage, made all the more violent by recent mechanisation.
Taking two different photographs, one colour and the other black and white, the final piece made use of tonal qualities to play with the formal elements of the original drawing for sculpture. By cutting it out and mounting it 3 cm off the wall the aim is to hint at a 3D outcome through its physical nature. This can be further emphasised by top lighting to achieve a cast shadow. The images also connect to each other through their depiction of surface and reference to the geology of the chalk hill. This work establishes a possible way of connecting the multiple layers that are making up my ongoing visual research in the landscape.
All photographs and works by Liz Clifford.
Liz Clifford 