Dark Matters: A series of four prints exploring the sublime and wonder in contemporary photography
- Submitting institution
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The University of Bolton
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 0049_32_REF2_RS_02
- Type
- L - Artefact
- Location
- St Petersburg, Russia
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of production
- October
- Year of production
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Dark Matters was a series of four prints selected for an international group show titled Sublime curated by Rick Copsey that examined representations of the sublime in contemporary British photography and film.
Dark Matters sought to examine how the overlooked minutiae from the natural world could be reconfigured in such a way to evoke a sense of sublime relevant to 21st Century concerns. The capacity of wonder to invite a renewed engagement of our relationship with the natural world was also considered, as were meditations on historical monastic still-life painting to contemporary photography.
Found fragments such as a moss turf were assembled and printed to a large format to give a heightened attention and invite contemplation. The pared down still-lives were set against a dark recess of space to create staged illuminations that rendered the isolated objects strange to the point of surreal, echoing the seventeenth century bodegones by Juan Sanchez Cotan.
These shards, abject fragments were positioned to iconic status full of metaphorical associations. Whilst instilling a re-enchantment with the natural world, the narratives sought to signal an urgent need to reflect upon the precarious interconnectedness of eco systems that sustain life. In these key respects, the research findings contributed to contemporary eco-poetic debates on the role of the sublime: could these fragments be prophetic visions from the future, relics of nature, or alternatively beginnings of new indifferent worlds where the human plays no part?
The four selected prints were shown at Sublime : Rick Copsey, Pat Flynn, Nick Jordan & Jacob Cartwright, Rebecca Sitar at Puskinskaya-10 Arts Centre, St Petersburg, Russia 22nd-26th October 2014 and shown again in Focal Length at the Museum of Non-Conformist Art, St Petersburg, Russia (2020). “Pods” (2014) was selected for Oriel Davies Open 2014 Newtown, Wales.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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