Wai’anae

“Brandt took photos of Wai’anae’s nature, he later developed them, folded them in banana leaves and buried them on the ground. Moisture, rain and the soil transformed the photographs into quasi abstract printings, the experience was correlated to a Hawaiian burial ritual in which the body is folded and becomes part of nature again. Photography’s connectedness to death emerges as we remember Barthes statement “that had been”, image making reveals itself as a morose testament, a modern memento mori. Memory is indeed a fascinating feature in photography making, a part from taking part in modern ritualistic activities, it testifies to our presence in exotic places.”

—Artpremium, Beyond the Visible Issue, Chamber of Reflection, 2017

https://artpremium.com/matthew-brandt-chamber-of-reflection/

“With this process, Brandt is physically interacting with the landscape, and in return, the actual environment alters the properties of each piece. Upon burial or submersion, Brandt does not know the outcome. The results are varied with eroded-like qualities and textures and prints from the immediate, surrounding environment. It is up to the earth to work its majestic wonder. In a way, Brandt’s process can be viewed as a cultivation of the physical landscape in which the print originated. Understood in this manner, Brandt is documenting a moment in time from a specific landscape for generations to come”

—Van Every Smith Galleries at Davidsons College, Seen in Storage-Matthew Brandt, by Emilie Hoke, 2016

http://www.davidsoncollegeartgalleries.org/uncategorized/seen-in-storage-matthew-brandt/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=seen-in-storage-matthew-brandt