Show Description:
Vanishing Points brings together three distinct bodies of work into
intimate dialog, all investigating the intricate relationship between
humanity and the natural world. The series explores
environmental transformation, resource extraction, and
photography’s role in shaping perceptions of the landscape. The
title, Vanishing Points, references not only the history and tradition
of the photographic medium and its role in creating an ideology
of extraction and dominance over the land but also the very real
disappearance of vital habitats and species due to environmental
degradation.
In Waveforms, Hobson juxtaposes Augmented
Landscapes—physically altered photo assemblages—with
Performed Landscapes, where manipulated prints are
photographed in the studio. This series emphasizes the tension
between human innovation and nature’s inherent limitations.
Through these hybridized landscapes, the work interrogates the
human impulse to impose order on the natural world, revealing
the fragile boundaries between intervention and destruction.
Hobson extends these themes through alternative, camera-less
photographic processes in Sunstroke and Nocturnes,
incorporating appropriated imagery of forest fires. Both projects
use lumen printing, a UV exposure technique on gelatin silver
paper, to create vivid, abstracted landscapes that evoke the
sublime. These works combine satellite imagery with everyday
materials to produce otherworldly landscapes: in Sunstroke, the
layering of photographic imagery with physical objects evokes
violent yet beautiful celestial bodies, while Nocturnes shifts the
scale from cosmic to intimate, adding botanical imagery with the
celestial and atmospheric. These experimental methods
challenge traditional landscape photography, emphasizing
materiality, ephemerality, and an acknowledgment of the
impermanence of the natural world.
Through these interconnected bodies of work, Vanishing Points
underscores the delicate balance between human ambition and
the environment’s resilience.
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