As far as the eye can reach (2020)
Audio narration, photographs with braille.
Huka Falls (Described by Steve Delaney), 2020
Installation view, University Oval Cricket Field (Described by Mark Flowerday), 2020. Photo by Sam Hartnett
Detail - University Oval Cricket Field (Described by Mark Flowerday), 2020. Photo by Sam Hartnett
University Oval Cricket Field (Described by Mark Flowerday), 2020
Parnell Rose Garden (Described by Rhonda Comins), 2020
Installation view from Touching Sight @ Christchurch Art Gallery 2021. Photo © John Collie
Orange Bowl Sandblow (Described by Chantelle Griffiths), 2020
Cave Stream (Described by Jo Froggatt), 2020
Detail from Cave Stream (Described by Jo Froggatt). Photo © Tyne Gordon
A horse ride to Chaney's Forest (Described by Itan Jimenez-Nava), 2020
Lake Kaniere (Described by Lewis Smith), 2020
Installation view, Piha (Described by Paul Brown), 2020. Photo by Sam Hartnett
Piha (Described by Paul Brown), 2020
The sky over Colombus (Described by Shaun Lowe), 2020
Detail from The sky over Colombus (Described by Shawn Lowe). Photo © PCL Imaging
Installation view - Niagara Falls (Described by Julie Woods), 2020
@ Two Rooms Gallery, 2021. Photo © Sam Hartnett
Installation view, Niagara Falls (Described by Julie Woods, 2020. Photo by Sam Hartnett
Installation view from As far as the eye can reach
@ Two Rooms Gallery, 2021. Photo © Sam Hartnett
Installation view from Touching Sight @ Christchurch Art Gallery 2021. Photo © John Collie
Detail from University Oval Cricket Field (Described by Mark Flowerday). Photo © John Collie
Detail from Orange Bowl Sandblow (Described by Chantelle Griffiths). Photo © Tim J Veling
Installation view from Touching Sight @ Christchurch Art Gallery 2021. Photo © John Collie
Installation view from Cracker @ Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland 2021. Photo © Sam Hartnett
Installation view from Two Rooms Gallery booth @ Auckland Art Fair, 2021. Photo © Sam Hartnett
As far as the eye can reach (2020)
This series was made in collaboration with members of the blind and low vision community in Aotearoa - New Zealand.
Each work began with a description of an outdoor experience as it was recalled and described to me in the manner one would to a blind friend. I then responded to each description with a photograph made locally using a pinhole camera, alluding to the places described without attempting to translate them in a visual sense. I hoped to shift the emphasis away from something visual, to an experience felt, sensed, imagined.
As far as the eye can reach refers to an observation by the first Surveyor-General of New Zealand (Felton Mathew) in his 1840 journal, describing the view from a hill towards what was soon to become Auckland.
Land surveying in Aotearoa divided space into categories based on English practice that came to define the way I perceive and experience space, place, landscape. There is a force to land surveying and by extension in surveying itself. The very act of looking is difficult to separate from possession, desire and use. There is no such thing as just looking. As far as the eye can reach acknowledges the nature of sight-seeing, as well as that of finite image capture. To take a photo. To shoot an image.
Collaborators' descriptions carry a clarity and depth of experience that elude my own sight-dependency. Each can be touched and read in braille on the surface of its corresponding photograph, or listened to via audio narration either in the gallery space or through QR codes via SoundCloud.
Ten works: 95 x 76cm C-prints with braille (UV ink, PVC), edition of 3 + 2 AP.
This work is a collaboration with Steve Delaney, Mark Flowerday, Rhonda Comins, Chantelle Griffiths, Jo Froggatt, Itan Jimenez-Nava, Lewis Smith, Paul Brown, Shaun Lowe and Julie Woods. Special thanks to you all, and also to Erin Eyles at Blind Low Vision NZ, Melanie Oliver, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Maria @ Clarkson Signs, Tim J. Veling and Kryszstof Wysocki for your support with this project.
Essays and reviews:
As far as the eye can reach by Lachlan Taylor
Perceiving Nature: Conor Clarke, by Fayen d'Evie - Bulletin #202
Exhibition review - Something Outside