I long for scenes where man has never trod,
For scenes where woman never smiled or wept;
There to abide with my Creator, God,
And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept
Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie,
The grass below; above the vaulted sky.
John Clare 1793 –1864 from ' I am '
This is a series about place and memory.
Fractured 3-1
Fractured 2-2
Fractured 1-5
Please click each image to see a larger version.
I have started to make little sketches of textures when I am out with my cameras, the pattern of soil, the marks left by rain, woodgrain and rot, rust, concrete, broken tarmac, grass and leaves. Each specific to that place, each evocative of that time. I want to try and gain a better understanding of my relationship with what I see and the feeling that it evokes. These sketches have then started to become part of that work, insertions and intersections, patterns and textures. I try and create a sense of that place, that time, that a photograph alone can't convey.
Fractured 6-4
Fractured 4-1
Fractured 5-2
I think this speaks somewhat to memory, Clare's longing for 'scenes where man has never trod' is akin to how I wish my experience of 'place' to be, my selfish want to simply have it to myself, unspoiled and uninterupted, all unatainable because man's footprint is almost everywhere. So my memory of that place becomes idealised, romanticised and shaped to better suit my purpose.
Fractured 7-1
Fractured 8-5
Fractured 9-1
All of these images are just notes, all taken just a moment from my front door. My house is actually in the first image, I only noticed that while proofing this. A Fenland Farmhouse sat on fractured Fenland soil reclaimed from nature and broken into for agriculture, scarred with drains, ubiquitous poles and lines, a flat flat land where dead straight roads dissapear over the horizon and the East wind cuts right through unhindered.
John Clare was born near here and it wasn't until I moved here five years ago that I realised the influence this landscape had on his poetry and perhaps eventually, his state of mind.
Thanks for taking the time and I have appreciated the feedback on this little series. I would be happy to make any of these images up as prints, if you are interested please use the contact form to let me know or if we are in touch on social media then please drop me a line there.
Jevon
Cambridgeshire 12/2024
