Sarah Chapman

Rock Pool - 43 Bags. Kokar (from "Contained") © Sarah Chapman


Rock Pool - 3 Bags. Kokar (from "Contained") © Sarah Chapman


Rock Pool - 5 Bags. Kokar (from "Contained") © Sarah Chapman


Rock Pool - 51 Bags. Kokar (from "Contained") © Sarah Chapman


Detail of Tree - 67 Bags. Kokar (from "Contained") © Sarah Chapman


Sarah Chapman Graduated from Arts University College at Bournemouth in 2008 with BA (hons) Photography

“Contained”

“Sarah Chapmans current practice centralises around the constructed natural environment, addressing environmental issues surrounding our use of plastics and our need to contain and control our surroundings, building them in our vision. Her work often results from performances within the natural landscape, with only photographic documentation of the performances remaining. Phenomenology remains at the forefront of Sarah’s work.

The 'Contained' series were begun on the Aland Archipelago Guest Artists Residence in Finland which Sarah undertook in 2009. The act of ‘containing’ an aspect of the natural landscape was in many ways a performance within the landscape. As someone who is environmentally aware, the process of using clear plastic bags to temporally contain an element of the landscape felt both brutal and highly conscious. It also provided a different experience of the landscape as I became aware of small creatures that lived in rock pools, bugs that surrounded the trees, the colour of the water, the fragility of the leaves and so on. After the scene was documented, the bags were emptied in a continuation of the performance. The landscape would return to its previous state and no evidence of my interference within it would remain.”

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