Textures of time

 

The work of Richard Chivers brilliantly photographs questions concerning the nature of the landscape. He does it through the investigation of critical issues in the relationship between man and environment. Quarries, abandoned places and spaces modified by man become fields of reflections on human activity and on its ability to destroy as well as to recover the territory. In the series “Textures of time”, of which we include some images, the changes induced by humans are compared with those produced slowly by time and sedimented in the deepest and less superficial layers of the Earth, as write us in the following note the English photographer.

 

«With regard to my work, my interest in landscape photography and the landscape as a whole, comes from an interest in understanding my immediate environment. The work in the quarries draws on an interest in Geology and how the landscape has evolved over time. The work in my “Layers” project is focused on how the landscape is shaped and reshaped and in a constant state of change. The relationship between nature and human intervention is a theme that runs through the work and how nature responds to human demands placed upon it and whether or not it can recover. The “Greenham Common” work is about creating a photographic archaeology of a historical landscape where nature is now taking over

For me the interesting thing about the “Textures of Time” work is that it can become a metaphor for the wider destruction elsewhere, the work is also starting to expand across the country as I have become interested in a few larger quarries that will represent different geological and historical information.

Although the Architectural work is generally commercially led, I have a strong interest in Architectural space and its impact on society and the human unconscious. There is also a nice link between the raw materials taken from some of the quarries I have photographed with the new architecture that probably use some of these raw materials for construction.

I was recently involved in an exhibition called Human Endeavour with 3 other photographers (Simon Carruthers, Murray Ballard e Alex Currie), whose main concern is capturing human intervention and activity in the 21st century».

Photo:

© Courtesy of Richard Chivers

www.rchivers.co.uk

(click on the image at right for more pictures)