A response to nature and space

Abstract

The intention of the work has been to communicate an experience of nature through non-illustrative means. The cumulative effect of many fragments of images creates in the viewer a sensation of nature, rather than a description of a particular place. When we encounter the world visually, our experience takes in the peripheral as well as the focal point. The way we engage with nature’s visual elements is determined through this somewhat fragmented yet continuous way we see and observe. Through distance and proximity, the viewer experiences nature in varying ways. The work aims to investigate the formal abstract potential to communicate a poetic, sensual response to a place, rather than a topographical, figurative description.

The project began with the making of several series of works that responded to spaces in nature. Through the journey of the research, it has arrived at a place where existing and new works, in particular watercolour paintings, have been used and modified as tools to evoke a sense of an environment. Four specific spaces have been used to resolve an installation strategy, developed as a means of communicating an experience and sensibility of nature.