Contextual Essay Plan: Research and References

Reykjavik, Iceland

With my chosen theme 'Edgelands and Ruins', I want to look more into the lure of industrious or rural landscapes; on the outskirts of the city with lots of visual interest and character to explore. While I don't have a title or specific direction yet, I covered a lot in my first personal project that I'd like to incorporate in this essay while exploring many aspects in further detail. This theme was created in response to the book 'Edgelands: Journeys Into England's True Wilderness' (Symmons Roberts and Farley, 2012), which defined the term 'Edgelands' through referencing history, artists, photographers, and poets who have defined this construct. 

I thought there was so much scope with this project as the term is relatively undefined so it's a great starting block for an essay. Since I don't have a clear direction, I thought it would be best to bullet point areas that interest me and reference books or early paintings I'd like to reference in my essay.

Robert Friend

I want to look at photographer Robin Friend's work, looking at his inspirations and reasons behind focusing on this subject. Through photography and travel, he looks at the representation of the British countryside and the reality. Travelling around the country he is led by curiosity and his photos document his findings. Whether it's a shipwreck, stack of palettes or cows grazing next to pylons, his curiosity shines through and makes you question the effects we are having on nature. 

This could also lead on to the idea that we have become accustomed to these sights; in turn, presenting a bigger issue of this almost seeming normal. Talk about concerns for the environment and the position creatives have in presenting such issues. Someone like Oliver Jeffers is an advocate for global change, looking to spread awareness for such issues through his paintings and children's books.

'In his new book 'Bastard Countryside', photographer Robin Friend navigates between these nationalist aesthetic visions. Having spent fifteen years travelling through the maligned ‘Edgelands’ of Britain, the landscape he pictures is both unfamiliar and artificial, scarred by humanity – a septic isle, rather than a sceptred one.'

(Wilson, 2018)

Points and Places I want to Include:

• Bernd and Hilla Becher influence. Photography duo in the 1950s who documented industrial structures through typologies around Europe. Incredible to have these pieces of history preserved as many are now demolished or forgotten. Interesting to know their motives and passion for dedicating their lives to photographing lost industries without which we wouldn't be able to see them. 

• Portugal. Link the idea of the lure of derelict landscapes to Portugal's old towns. Delipidated front doors and shells of houses line the streets of Faro and Loule, their beauty lies in the history and curiosity of who owns them, how they became ruins and why they hold such charm even in this state. Rural Portuguese towns are prime locations for photographers, look at why they are so intrigued by these areas and why audiences can resonate with the photos.

• Interest in urban landscapes. Full of character yet most are uninhabited. Many places on the edges of cities/towns/in the countryside are left for nature to take over. Usually a mix of historic brick buildings overgrown with vegetation.

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Winding Towers, 1966-97

Faro Old Town, Portugal

Faro, Portugal

• The idea of visiting a new place such as Prague and being able to tell the cities outskirts from centre, seeing each as different landscapes as they are regarded in different lights. Could be interesting to look at peoples perspectives of 'Edgelands', why they exist and how we associate with them. Could be regarded as unsafe, unknown territory as it's mainly unowned, people feel safer in the inner city.

• The representation of 'Edgelands'. Its depiction in the media: in TV programs and movies, both animated and live-action. For example, Wall-E, Divergent, The Maze Runner where cities have been forgotten and left in ruins. Links to the idea of a dystopian landscape, how movies reconstruct these landscapes using familiar iconography like cars, skips, neglected buildings, rubble, overgrown vegetation, incorporating signs of humans leaving in a hurry. This could be interesting to link to my photos, looking at real-life compared to film sets/ reconstructions.

Wall-E colour scripts
 

• Influence of 'Edgelands' concept in art history. Looking at famous paintings like 'A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning' by Peter Paul Rubens, 1636 which highlight the divide between the rich and the poor through the contrast in the landscape. While the rolling hills are perfectly kept with woodlands surrounding the manor, the darker area shows servants on the ground tending to the grounds while they fade into them. 

• Other artists like Rembrandt and Monet. Rembrandt captured landscapes through monochromatic etchings. They hold such beauty and show the perspective through his visual representation of a landscape. Could look more into the process of printmaking, how imagery depicts the idea of 'Edgelands'.

'A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning', Peter Paul Rubens, 1636

'The Windmill', Rembrandt, 1641

'The Three Trees', Rembrandt, 1643

• Light and dark. This contrast is often used to represent hierarchies and social standing. Looking at how eerie atmospheres are created to portray dark places. Does this representation correlate with our negative perception of such places, are we made to fear them with what's seen on TV? 

• An Inspector Calls (Priestley, 1972) and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Stevenson and Mighall, 1886) both describe the mystery that lurks in the city late at night. Description could be included as a reference to back up the negative/ tense feeling surrounding such places. Think about how each character enters different entrances to a house, one down a back alley, one on a prestigious avenue of London terraces.

• Link to my interest in photographing rustic landscapes, off the beaten track. Visual interest and curiosity for a landscape that is full of context, narrative, and character.

“Somewhere in the hollows and spaces between our carefully-managed wilderness areas and the creeping, flattening effects of global capitalism, there are still places where an overlooked England truly exists; … complicated, unexamined places that thrive on disregard.”

 -Edited extract from "Edgelands: Journeys Into England's True Wilderness.

Don McCullin. Left: Liverpool, Slum clearance, 1970s. Right: Early morning, steel foundry, West Hartlepool, County Durham, 1963.

Don McCullin, The Road to the Somme, France, 1999

• Photography by Jean-Marc Bustamente in 'Bitter Almonds', his photography book published in 1997. Other books include 'Abandoned Places' by Henk Van Rensbergen and photography from photojournalist Don McCullin (above).

Jean-Marc Bustamante, 1997

Jean-Marc Bustamante, 1997

References

Blythe, F., 2020. Don McCullin spent 60 years capturing bloodshed and desperation—now he finds solace in the countryside. [online] Document Journal. Available at: <https://www.documentjournal.com/2020/01/don-mccullin-spent-60-years-capturing-bloodshed-and-desperation-now-he-finds-solace-in-the-countryside/> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

The Museum of Modern Art. 2022. Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher. Winding Towers. 1966-97 | MoMA. [online] Available at: <https://www.moma.org/collection/works/136060> [Accessed 17 February 2022].

Pixar Animation Studios. 2022. Disney Pixar Wall-E. [online] Available at: <https://www.pixar.com/feature-films/walle> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Nationalgallery.org.uk. 2022. Peter Paul Rubens | A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning | NG66 | National Gallery, London. [online] Available at: <https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/peter-paul-rubens-a-view-of-het-steen-in-the-early-morning> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Orenstein, N., 2004. Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669): Prints. [online] Metmuseum.org. Available at: <https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rembp/hd_rembp.htm> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Google Books. 2022. Edgelands. [online] Available at: <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Edgelands/Rlf07TWw0JkC?hl=en&gbpv=0> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Symmons Roberts, M. and Farley, P., 2012. Edgelands: Journey into Britains True Wilderness. Vintage.

Poetry Archive. 2022. Roy Fisher - Poetry Archive. [online] Available at: <https://poetryarchive.org/poet/roy-fisher/> [Accessed 15 February 2022].

Bustamante, J., 1997. Amandes Ameres: Bitter Almonds, Bittere Mandeln. London: Phaidon Press.

Rensbergen, H., 2007. Abandoned places. Belgium: Lannoo.

An Inspector Calls. 2015. [DVD] Directed by A. Walsh. BBC.

Priestley, J., 1972. An Inspector Calls. New York: Pearson Education.

Stevenson, R. and Mighall, R., 1886. The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror. New York: Penguin Books Ltd.

Wilson, J., 2018. Dystopian shots of Britain’s rural edgelands. [online] Huck Magazine. Available at: <https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/dystopian-shots-of-britains-rural-edgelands/> [Accessed 17 February 2022].