Dorte Kyhn, DK
Heading out of Marrakesh in a tourist bus, I marveled at the sight of some unknown crop in the arid plains of red ochre beyond my window. With a sudden jolt, it dawned on me that the billowing petroleum-green plants were not rooted at all, but plastic bags tumbling in the Sahara-winds with other fragments of urban refuse.
The spectacle inspired this photo series, exploring what you might call a “double take “experience in the atmospheric setting of a forest swamp in my own country, Denmark. I have long since been fascinated by the pea-green film of algae in local ponds, and somehow this anthropocene project brought these inspirational threads together, with the ubiquitous plastic bag as environmental ornament. Starting with a photo shoot, a sorting process began with choices about the confining geometry of the camera – i.e. the boxing-in of nature with human technology – in mind. It was in my local supermarket, then, with a pack of sponge pads in hand I had my eureka experience! The sponge pads give immediate associations to the kitchen sink; to water and waste, to our throw-away consumer culture. But curiously, it was the building–brick format of the individual sponge – replicating the dimensions of the work as a whole - that caught my eye. WORKS "Tumbleweed" Photograph. Dimensions: 5 works, each 77x55cm. Materials: mounting board, plexiglass, scouring sponge-pads, screws & bolts. CONTACT [email protected] www.dortekyhn.dk |