At a glance
this picture from Darren Almond’s Bearing poses several questions about the
circumstances of its setting. Where is this taken? What is this man doing? What’s
in the baskets? Why does the space he occupies look the way it does? This photograph is part of a 35 minute video that follows a sulfur miner along his
daily route inside the crater of a volcano in Java, Indonesia.
Interesting fact:
Almond grew up in a small coalmining town. His father is a construction worker.
He used to board trains going anywhere, losing himself in the terrain. As an artist, he often
uses his work to explore personal and family memories. He is interested in the
notions of geographical limits and the means of getting to a location. That said,
many of his works are filmed in remote locations.
“I came from
a family of miners, so I know the suffering they go through. I saw a
documentary by an Austrian director about the place and it was a case of ‘lost
in translation’ and he removed the dignity of the workers. ... I felt like I
needed to go there and give back the dignity of these guys”-- Darren Almond
No comments:
Post a Comment