obscure cartographies : soundings

‘words came out of the womb of matter: and whether a man dispassionately sees the core of life or passionately sees the surface, the core and the surface are essentially the same, words making them seem different only to express appearance. if name be needed, wonder names them both: from wonder to wonder existence opens’ (witter bynner [translator], the way of life according to lao tzu – p19, the lyrebird press, 1972, first published, pl editions, london, 1944)

instance (woods cove, california, 1995)

obscure cartographies

(forms of mapping : the mapping of forms)

fragment 1.3 – courage

to enter the liminal
dissolve boundaries
peer through substance
to chart the invisible
the atom-wave illusion
the star strewn emptiness
the absence of bearings
to reach unbound silences
where minute geometries
entangle and disentangle
without beginning
before cause

antisolar spoke (sandgate, 2021)

fragment 1.2 – methodology

in attention
and recognition
of each small thing emerging
of subtle events arising
of hidden thresholds
and unseen fields
appearing
of paths crossing
minds meeting
hearts upwelling
of the co-incidental
moment arriving

longing (dartmoor, 2018)

fragment 1.6 – moksha

i gaze out
over sea-fog horizons
they unravel me
a soft sublime
permeates me
dissolves my isolation
dispelling the last vestiges
of this strange diurnal dream

sublime obscuration (big sur, california, 2019)

fragment 1.5 – becoming

each day we live

the hydrology of our cells
the geology of our matter
the electricity of our nerves

iron
calcium
magnesium
phosphorous

our materials borrowed
from mineral mass
beyond measure

we multiply
we manipulate

the hydrologic earth
the geologic foundation
the water we drink
the food we eat
the air we breath
without sense
of limitation

but we are becoming
always becoming

evidence #5 (red-chalk, hunstanton, norfolk, 2021)

fragment 1.7 – absorption

the shadow
has no sense
of falling

the shaded
knows nothing
of the shadow

the mind exposes
silent reflections
nerve absorptions

the luminous image
a dark space shimmer
a haunted imprint

  • poiesis #1 (river dart, devon, june 2023)

  • poiesis #2 (river avon, bantham, devon, september 2018)

fragment 1.4 – the real

the real emerges
with each new step
richness revealed
in the constant flow
of material contact
sound, image
and the obscured
nature of objects

soundings

‘matter is spiritualized by human consciousness of it in the presence of the eternal.’
(david gascoyne – the sun at midnight – the physical and immaterial unity, enitharmon press, 1970)

sounding #1 (sandgate studio, indigo, cobalt, chalk)

sounding #7 mineral agency (sandgate studio, metal plate, chemigram, graphic process)

images

  • sounding #3 (sandgate studio, cotton paper, carbon ink, chalk)

  • sounding #4 (sandgate studio, cotton paper, carbon ink, chalk)

sounding #2 (sandgate studio, cotton paper, carbon ink, chalk)

  • sounding #5 (sandgate studio, giclee print, carbon, ash, soot ink)

  • sounding #6 (sandgate studio, giclee print, carbon, ash, soot ink)

details

process:

i. photographic or cameraless image
ii. application of materials to opaque or transparent substrates photographed or scanned
iii. digital montage and original layers destroyed
vi. final digital file for giclee print and further application of materials

substrates
cotton paper
copper sheet
steel sheet
glass sheet

materials
wood ash
charcoal
chalk
silver leaf
gold leaf
copper leaf
verdigris
oak gall ink
indigo ink
cobalt ink
carbon ink (lamp soot)
yellow ochre earth
red ochre earth
various acids
water

photography
water surfaces
rock surfaces
sediments and soils

location: sandgate studio
date: 2016 – 2025