The core interest grounding this project points toward the aesthetic experiences of the beautiful and the sublime; both qualities emanate from an intrinsic capacity human beings possess to allow the consequential experiences to be. This innate capacity, along with human beings’ persistent inclination towards the beautiful and the sublime, formed the foundation of interest for this inquiry.
The reasons for my subject matter are as follow: a) landscapes’ capacity as a universal interest of aesthetic experiences, both in representations as works of art as well as in empirical reality, and b) the variables that landscapes consist, which encompass the properties of both the beautiful and the sublime in one entity.
These land structures were constructed from ground spices, dried herbs, flour, ice, a fog machine, and a variety of lighting. The process of fabrication provides me with the liberty of fabricating wide possibilities of physical features, permutating the characteristics of both beauty and sublimity in natural landscapes. Such significance approaches the subjective experiences of the viewer, with the intention of determining if beauty and sublimity are independent species of aesthetic experiences, or do they belong to a singular, interdependent experience where one proceeds from the other, sharing the foundation of a common capacity, as two ends of the same spectrum.
The constructing and photographing process of each image in this project took place over a period of three to seven days, with important considerations placed in the lighting and composition of each landscape structure, and in aim of uniting the vocabulary of materials into the spatial singularity of the photographic image: the landscapes provide a theatrical space where the colours manifest, and engage in dialectics amongst each other. The colours, light, and composed landscapes consequently assemble themselves as a spatial entity in the embodiment of the fog.
These fabricated landscapes invite the viewers to embark on a journey of the imaginative, consequently participating in the position of an admiring, contemplative being.