Solo Exhibition at arc.hive artist run centre (Victoria, BC) June 1 – 16, 2024
(text taken from the exhibition handout)
The pseudo-archive facility in born of Isolation. (after Eric) contemplates faraway places through a lens much closer to home. Here, the micro and macro worlds collide, vegetables take on greater significance and the photograph’s state shifts between record and object.
For my first solo exhibition in North America, I transformed arc.hive’s gallery space into an ‘odditorium’ of curiosities: part archive store room, part astro-botanical science laboratory.
Conceived when the world stopped and our immediate surroundings held new meaning, the body of work in this exhibition examines the collection as a vehicle for preservation and research, and as a distraction and coping mechanism. Through the expanded photography field of both sculptural and 2-D form, the viewer is encouraged to explore the world of the (faux) archive.
Inspired by NASA’s online Lunar Sample and Photo Catalog that houses the records of all lunar material returned to Earth, I began documenting the indoor vegetables I found compelled to grow during the stay-at-home mandates. This activity soon broadened to include capturing the hundreds of tiny fungus gnats the plants attracted, firstly on sticky traps, which once full were then transferred onto film via a homemade pinhole camera. The resulting photographs re-present the micro world of these gnats as potential glimpses into the furthest depths of the cosmos.
The sculptural elements in the exhibition illustrate my interest in exploring the haptic qualities and materiality of photography, considering the photograph as a resource or raw material. I look beyond it being simply an image but rather an object occupying space, either in and of itself or as a component within a larger form.
During the global reset and subsequent aftermath, I also began to re-evaluate the impact my art practice was having on the natural environment. Accordingly, one of the themes that links together much of the work on show reflects this ecologically-conscious approach. From up-cycling and repurposing materials to reducing waste and my toxic footprint, I have been finding ways in which to live and work more sustainably.
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ANTHONY CARR 