Current Exhibition: Joe Cornish 'WILD STILLNESS'
'My main mission as a landscape photographer is to see the beauty of wild places (and to advocate their preservation). I pursue that task on coast, moor and mountain through a search for what Romantic philosophers would have called the Sublime.' The exhibition runs until 11/07/08
WILD STILLNESS IS THERE STILL WILDERNESS IN BRITAIN? CAN THE STILL CAMERA CONNECT WITH THE WILD HEART OF THE LANDSCAPE? DOES WILD LANDSCAPE REFLECT THE SOUL? In Wild Stillness, landscape photographer Joe Cornish explores the geological heights and metaphorical depths of Britain’s remaining wild places. Taking his beloved wooden 5x4 inch field camera on to snow-covered mountain tops, over boggy moors, beside frozen rivers and on windscoured beaches, he has pushed to the very edge of his physical and creative limits. From this endeavour has sprung his most epic and challenging images to date. Attention to detail, compositional balance, raw energy, and sensitivity to light are all characteristic of his large format work. But these extraordinary perspectives, awesome vistas, mysterious juxtapositions of form, and extremes of light, shade and colour may come as a surprise. The prints in the exhibition are all made with the latest Epson inkjet technology, and the majority were made by Joe at his studio. This has given a new level of control, interpretation and subtlety to his prints. It is the first time he has exhibited work he has printed himself. Though shot largely in Scotland, the photographs are a far cry from the pastiche of Scotland manufactured by the tourist industry. They are as much about the soul of the photographer as they are about the landscape itself. Where that balance lies is for the viewer to decide.
