The project Blast Sheets is largely structured around the study of industrial and post-industrial landscapes, with a specific focus on visualising the extraction of slate in the North-West of England. The work is driven by the question of how far we must preserve the natural landscape and how far we must utilise its natural resources. I am striving to provide a visual representation of this ethical challenge.

 

My approach to represent this subject visually centres largely around making multiple return visits to a selection of quarries under different lighting conditions, seasons, and times of day. In doing so, I make numerous walks within each location, studying both the small details and the wider scenes that display the entirety of the landscape. This process, whilst allowing me to achieve an understanding of how the location will look visually, has also supported my decision making on which area to prioritise, on both a visual level, as well as contextually.

 

Developing knowledge around the geographical makeup of Lake-District quarrying sites allowed me to refine my approach to a select handful of quarries that best reflected the driving factors of my work. To achieve this I visited quarries in the Lake District National Park, making notes on the visual elements of the site – for example, rock structure, tonality / colour, and how the light interacted with the quarry walls. This informed my decision making. Researching the historical, social, economic and geographical context of the quarries, I refined my study to four sites. Historically, these sites were closely linked, however were all individually unique, visually.

 

Using maps and archived images to study the areas of quarrying was also crucial to developing an understanding how to refine my practice. This was predominantly achieved through using Ordinance Survey maps, which display detailed views of specific areas. For example, signifying locations of active quarries, disused quarries (Quarry.dis), contour lines (indicating exactly how steep the terrain is), mines, and many more.

 

My decision on using the map as part of the final piece has the potential to give the project another dimension, adding another layer of depth behind the images. In a gallery setting the map would be presented in its original form (torn and creased), adding a level of physicality to the installation.

 

I created a series of drafts in which I planned out various installation techniques and diptychs using both maps and still photography. However, despite the idea working as a physical exhibition, this technique did not translate to online use / viewing the work on a website or screen. There was a disconnect between the tactility of the heavily used map, and how that was seen on the screen. It was for this reason that I decided to use only the still photography as part of the final project displayed on the website and in the Open Eye Gallery digital exhibition.

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This is a work on progress. The next steps are to develop the work outside the Lake District National Park. Returning to my original inspiration, I will be focussing on quarries and sites outside the UK.