Quattro elementi - four elements
Date
2006-03-05
Authors
Advisors
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Other
Peer reviewed
Abstract
Description
In 2004 I was invited to Campo Catino, in the mountains southwest of Rome, to participate in Massimiliano Floridi's 'Quattro Elementi' project, designed to help rejuvenate the area by encouraging established artists to draw attention - and tourists - to it. The project’s commissioners - the Doria Pamphilj estate – approached researchers from various disciplines including architecture, sculpture and photography. My research involved the translation of an embodied experience of the landscape, which I experienced over one month, into visual imagery. My completed work was acquired for the permanent collection - which also contains work by Caravaggio, Bruegel and Velazquez - for display in a purpose-built gallery in the mountains.
I was inspired by the incredible landscapes and sculptures seen on my walks in the area, and attempted to represent the four elements in my work. I was fortunate to see different seasons on the mountains, from snow to sunshine, and a wide diversity of landscape, from desert to forests and mountains. I researched black-and-white landscape photographers such as Minor White, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. Their work, however, does not engage with the experience of place as embodied experience, or the changing phases of the “Four Seasons”.
During my residency in this location, I revisited sites and took 160 shots, on conventional film as well as digital images to enable me to see my images immediately. Then I selected sixteen shots based on formal and expressive criteria, which I felt best characterised the “Four Elements”. I worked in black and white to emphasise the purity of form, expressive force, and timeless quality of the locations.
A book 'Quattro Elementi' illustrated by my work is on sale internationally in art book shops and museums, and is contributing to a deeper understanding of representation and the particularity of place.
Keywords
RAE 2008, UoA 63 Art and Design
Citation
MEREDITH-VULA, L.A. 05 March - 02 April 2006. Quattro Elementi. Rome: Galleria Doria Pamphilj. Exhibition and accompanying book Floridi, M., Delbene, G. and Meredith-Vula, L. (2006) Quattro Elementi. Un progetto di paesaggio tra arte e Natura, Barcellona, Actar [Italian ISBN 84-96540-25-1; English ISBN 84-96540-26-X]