Dis/obedience to the Earth - Now available as a podcast!
In One Form Upon This Earth, 2017. 100cm x 125cm © Alan McFetridge
A while ago, probably long enough for some of you to have completely forgotten that it happened, Alan was invited to talk on a panel event at the University of Westminster on climate awareness. We promised that for those who were unable to join, there would be a link available so that you can listen to the recorded version. Well, my friends, your prayers have been answered!
Thanks to the handy work of David Morris, this event is now available on a multitude of platforms and you will not regret taking just an hour out of your day to listen to an intelligent and engaging discussion of spirituality and climate change.
Dis/obedience to the Earth - A Climate Awareness Panel Event for Interfaith Week 2021 is available on Breaker, Google Podcasts, Pocket Cast, Radio Public, Copy RSS, and Spotify! Click the link below to listen!
Fun Fact: ‘Dead End Days’, a serialised dark comedy about zombies released from 31 October 2003 through 2004, is commonly believed to be the first video podcast. As a side note, Alan’s upcoming monograph, currently titled Songs of the Dead, was previously called ‘Dead End.’ There is, however, no similarity between ‘Dead End Days’ and ‘Dead End’ … or maybe there is? It’s actually about Zombies…
We are Hiring: Six New Roles for Ecological Research and Photography
We are excited to offer six new Kickstart Scheme Roles for 2022 for six months each. These positions will give the successful applicants the opportunity to work on ecological research outputs in the Arts.
6 new temporary roles are available for 16 -24 years olds* Open Applications until 14 February 14 2022.
Outline of The Roles:
Junior Data Scientist - Computer Science x 2 open roles
As Fire on Earth continues to find new extremes we are looking for people to work collaboratively with satellite data to investigate how fire is seen from space.Photography Assistants x 2 open roles
We are currently producing fine art prints, a monograph and compiling recent field studies from Australia and Greece. These roles will involve using Adobe Creative Suite, Squarespace, Capture One to move each of the areas forward as a collaborative team.Marketing & Communication Lead x 2 open roles
This is a role for an organised person that can understand the broader vision of the group and see the necessary detail of daily studio life and develop a marketing plan to include articulate writing, social and physical networks and coordinated logistics and communication.
These are ideal roles for anyone who wants to put their energy on Ecology in a fast-paced, highly collaborative, visual and data-driven environment. Someone who is thrilled towards gaining exposure to the multiple facets of creating visual art to thrust and be present in eco-critical debates. Including operations, product development, logistics, fabrication, sales, marketing and research. The team has an ardent sense of the value that a committed group has in expanding environmental knowledge through field work, theory and output.
The right candidates from diverse fields and backgrounds are very welcome as the ability to focus, enjoy your work, learn fast, intuitive, complete tasks and think laterally is viewed as key skills. We’re looking for team members that excel across the entire development lifecycle, come with a growth mindset, and bring a genuine desire to learn about ecology and how to communicate this.
The studio is in East London 8 minutes walk from Bromley by Bow station. Wheelchair access is available to the ground floor, however the studio is on the first floor with step access only. Happy to look at solutions to work off site or discuss possibilities with the building owners to get first floor access.
Landscape Fire Research
Photography Book Production
Earth Observation
Visually lead with an emphasis on publication and exhibition.
East London Studio Location
Details:
Kickstart is a scheme for 16-24 year olds who are unemployed and on Universal Credit. Eligible applicants need to speak to their own JCP work coach who will be able to make the referral.
Please direct any questions or send CVs and covering letters to alan@alan-mcfetridge.com
Open for applications until 14 February 2022
Tears in Silence, 2020 © Alan McFetridge
Now you can become a Patron via Patreon
Our research and creativity is part of a collaborative process that involves individuals with varying backgrounds, skills, and education or training. To keep the work moving forward we have joined Patreon.
As Alan McFetridge’s work continues, it has begun to blossom into the Centre for Ecological Philosophy and the team working here at the studio is expanding.
Artifacts and Landscapes from Menai, New South Wales, Australia
Outside of an academic institution, the execution of our research and creativity is part of a collaborative process that involves individuals with varying backgrounds, skills, and education or training.
In light of this, to keep the work moving forward we have joined Patreon, a subscription platform that gives you the possibility of donating to our small research center. To thank you for your contribution, depending on the subscription you choose, you can get free prints, and even discounts, and vouchers for the Alan McFetridge website.
Environmental concerns are shared amongst many of us and it would mean a lot if you could help us find ways to fund the work we want to continue doing. Keep an eye on this blog to find out what is coming next and what your contribution makes possible.
Become a subscriber on Patreon and Support our Team, call yourself a Center member, or be an Eco Patron.
Warmest wishes,
Antoinette Johnson (Any Pronouns)
Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram.
On The Line, 2019 is available at The Whitechapel Gallery Bookshop, The Photographers’ Gallery Bookshop, and Claire De Rouen Books. It is available for research at the British Library.
5 Nominations for the Prix Pictet, The Global Award for Photography and Sustainability
The photography work on dispossession has received 5 nominations for the ninth cycle of the Prix Pictet themed - Fire.
Pleased that the work on dispossession has received 5 nominations for the ninth cycle of the Prix Pictet themed - Fire.
Thanks to everyone that has contributed and become friends along the way. It's a nice feeling, sense of more people coming together to accelerate change, showing that piecemeal offers are not enough. We’ll enjoy this, in the hope the exhibition can show the extent and conditions of our now fiery planet. What it means. No celebrations here until significant and rapid changes to global landcare are made, with adaptation of wide spread, long term ecological philosophy - the work will and must continue in earnest - as -‘tears on the faces of stone, they are our own tears’ - James K. Baxter.
Thank you kindly,
Alan.
#newworld #nature #environment #fire #gesamtkunstwerk #photography #philosophy #environment #wildfire #landcare #knowledge # #forest #boundary #frontier #ecology #together
Artist Member of Gallery Climate Coalition
Waste and excess is no longer something to be indifferent about. The concerns of many are being addressed here by the Gallery Climate Coalition through quality information and solutions.
I am pleased to be taking part in GCC’s objectives. Waste and excess is no longer something to be indifferent towards. The concerns of many are being addressed here with quality information and solutions.
The GCC evolved out of shared concern across the commercial art world that not enough is being done to tackle our collective environmental impact. Although public institutions have been taking significant steps to reduce their carbon footprint and control waste for some time, there seemed to be a lack of equivalent initiatives in the commercial sector. This prompted a group of us to set about developing the tools, strategies, and research required to help make a positive change. This is a work in progress. We hope you will join us and make this coalition as effective as possible.
Please email me if you have any questions.
Hotel Room and Smog, 2005. © Alan McFetridge
Wonder + Dread, New Works in Exhibition at Shoalhaven Region Gallery, NSW
Wildfires. Cyclones. Floods. Droughts. Australia is no stranger to extreme weather. These calamitous events, wreaking human and environmental devastation, are central to our shared history and mythology..”
Wonder + Dread: Art in the Land of Weather Extremes.
Pleased to announce two new works are included in Wonder + Dread and it is very special to be apart of this crucial debate. Both works are recent diptychs that span 189 years of landscape and applied geographic moderation. The works form part of a project on fire that began 2016.
Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers, Gunaikurnai Country (1881- 2020), 2020,
pigment ink print, diptych: 32.6 × 113cm.
Works Included
1. Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers, Gunaikurnai Country (1881- 2020), 2020
pigment ink print, diptych: 32.6 × 113cm (above)
2. The River Derwent and Hobart Town, Lutruwita (c1831- 2019)
pigment ink print, diptych: 32.6 × 86cm
‘In this series of diptychs, Alan McFetridge has placed prints of 19th century Australian landscape paintings alongside recent photographs taken at the same locations. These comparisons reveal three perspectives. The 19th Century works present a vision of the Australian landscape through a colonial lens. What those early artists unknowingly also captured was a landscape under the careful management of First Nations Peoples. We see thinned trees, epicormic growth, burnt logs within open park-like vistas and fuel reduction. The 20th Century views offer a startling contrast. In Gippsland, the land has been decimated by Black Summer fires. In Tasmania the once carefully managed land has been overrun by trees and scrub.’
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Reviews
The Australian - Review, Wonder and Dread at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery by Christopher Allen
Alan McFetridge has rephotographed the sites of two colonial views, John Glover’s The River Derwent and Hobart Town (c. 1831) — a picturesque area named “Salvator’s Glen” in recollection of the 17th-century landscapes of the Neapolitan Salvator Rosa — and Eugene von Guerard’s lithograph of the Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers (Plate 9 in Eugene von Guerard’s Australian landscapes, 1866-68). His photographs — of the first site overgrown and the second devastated by bushfire — are set beside reproductions of the originals.
The accompanying label claims that the two painters unwittingly recorded landscapes managed by traditional Aboriginal burning, the cessation of which has brought them to their present state. This may be true, although neither site corresponds to the grassy plains that were particularly noticed by early colonists — some of whom did realise that the Aborigines regularly burned the land — and Von Guerard’s view does not show any obvious signs of fire; there are, however, burnt stumps on the left of Glover’s view and epicormic growth — leaves growing straight from the trunk — on one large tree on the right in particular.
Of course not all fires were either deliberately lit or managed, so it is hard to be sure what happened in this case. The most catastrophic early wild fires recorded and documented in Australia were the Black Thursday Bushfires in Victoria in 1851, the culmination of a terrible drought in the previous year. The fires were witnessed by William Strutt, who made sketches at the time and completed his dramatic painting of the subject after his return to England in 1864. The exhibition contains a reproduction of this painting and one of its studies.
Art Guide Australia by Barney Smith
“Although WONDER + DREAD features a stunning array of art in a Western tradition that seeks to capture and make sense of the spectacular brutality of the Australian climate, Robson is keen to emphasise that the spirit of ancient knowledge hovers decisively over her show too, and that certain things may be revelatory for visitors.” - Barney Smith for Art Guide Australia.
Curator Danielle Robson replies to Barnaby Smith “A key theme that emerged [in WONDER + DREAD] is the tension between the colonial perspective of the Australian landscape as harsh, inhospitable and uninhabitable, and the approach to landscape of First Nations people, who practised traditional land management and thrived for tens of thousands of years,” says Robson.
Full article here
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Exhibition Details
WONDER + DREAD: Art in the Land of Weather Extremes
Shoalhaven Regional Gallery
12 December – 30 January
Wildfires. Cyclones. Floods. Droughts. Australia is no stranger to extreme weather. These calamitous events, wreaking human and environmental devastation, are central to our shared history and mythology. Those of particular ferocity acquire names that carry through the ages - the Federation Drought, Cyclone Tracey, Black Saturday. And yet, the colossal power of extreme weather systems that indiscriminately obliterate everything in their path leaves us in a state of awe.
Against a backdrop of increasingly frequent extreme weather events, WONDER + DREAD: Art in the Land of Weather Extremes is an ambitious group exhibition of Australian artists that draws on collections from across the country as well as commissioned works to create a thoughtful and nuanced survey of how artists have responded to extreme weather across time.
This exhibition is curated by Danielle Robson of Soda Arts.
Featured Artists
Glenn Barkley, Arthur Boyd, Sam Byrne, Max Dupain, Samuel Elyard, Helga Groves, Rosemary Laing, Marcia Macmillan, Aunty Deidre Martin & Nicole Monks, Alan McFetridge, Joseph McGlennon, Lara Merrett, Sidney Nolan, Susan Norrie, Lloyd Rees, Michael Riley, Cameron Robbins Luke Shadbolt, William Strutt and Albert Tucker.
Acknowledgements
Country, Danielle Robson, David Bowman, Bill Gamage &
Eugene von Guérard (1811 - 1901) Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers, Gippsland (1867)
Provided by National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
John Glover, The River Derwent and Hobart Town, c 1851
Reproduction from a digital file courtesy Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery AG5458
On The Line: featured in the British Library Christmas Blog
It's certainly a wonderful feeling of positive progress when the British Library supports your work and ideas, On The Line is featured in their Christmas Blog.
It's certainly a wonderful feeling of positive progress when the British Library supports your work and ideas, On The Line is featured in their Christmas Blog.
1st edition copies of On The Line are available from my website, Claire De Rouen Books, The Whitechapel Gallery and The Photographers Gallery.
Warmest wishes,
Alan
Territory at Oriel Gallery, Theatr Clwyd, UK with RPS, IPE 162
Territory continues its tour of the UK, exhibit in Wales at the Oriel Gallery.
Territory series tours the UK with the IPE 162
Selected from a worldwide open call and curated by some of the most influential people in photography today, the works exhibited include stark landscapes made during periods of extended solitude, alongside images created using pinhole cameras (made from apples) which celebrate community orchards. Spirituality, family, identity, and inclusion are some of the powerful narratives explored this year
Dead End, 2017 © Alan McFetridge
Exhibition Details
28 November 2020 - 16 January 2021
Gallery Opening Times here
Venue: Oriel Gallery Theatr Clwyd
Raikes Lane, Mold
CH7 1YA
The selection panel included Shannon Ghannam (Global Education Director at Magnum Photos), Skinder Hundal MBE (CEO/Director of New Art Exchange), Yan Wang Preston (Photographic Artist and lecturer at the University of Huddersfield) and Cian Oba-Smith (Editorial and Commercial Photographer), who were joined by RPS Director of Education Dr Michael Pritchard.
If Not Us Then Who, Prints for Community Fund Raising
“Indigenous peoples are leading the climate fight and during this unprecedented pandemic require our support more than ever.”
Proud to be apart of the worldwide Indigenous awareness raising group,
If Not Us Then Who.
Indigenous peoples are leading the climate fight and during this unprecedented pandemic require our support more than ever.
“To us the land is our mother, the forest is our father, and the water is our blood, they give us everything that we need, for this reason we need to do everything that we can to save it.” Fifteen year old Kynan Tegar a photographer / filmmaker from the community of Sungai Utik, Borneo.
Help us to raise funds by purchasing an archival print from the beautiful work available on this site, alternatively please consider donating and read more about where funds will be distributed here and here.
Territory at Beverley Art Gallery, UK with RPS, IPE 162
“stark landscapes made during periods of extended solitude, alongside images created using pinhole cameras, made from apples, celebrating community orchards.”
Territory series tours the UK with the IPE 162
Selected from a worldwide open call and curated by some of the most influential people in photography today, this edition includes stark landscapes made during periods of extended solitude, alongside images created using pinhole cameras (made from apples) which celebrate community orchards. Spirituality, family, identity, and inclusion are some of the powerful narratives explored this year.
The Last Man, 2017 © Alan McFetridge
Exhibition dates: 19 September – 16 November 2020
Gallery Opening Times here
Venue: Beverley Art Gallery
Champney Road, Beverley
East Riding, Beverley, HU17 8HE
The selection panel included Shannon Ghannam (Global Education Director at Magnum Photos), Skinder Hundal MBE (CEO/Director of New Art Exchange), Yan Wang Preston (Photographic Artist and lecturer at the University of Huddersfield) and Cian Oba-Smith (Editorial and Commercial Photographer), who were joined by RPS Director of Education Dr Michael Pritchard.
Event: On The Line Book Launch and Screening, 25 August, London
Please join me for the UK launch of On The Line, new works on paper, sound and the premiere short film screening.
Please join me for the UK launch of On The Line, new works on paper, sound and the premiere short film screening by the same name being held outdoors at the Photobook Cafe, London.
DATE AND TIME
25 August 2020
18:00 - 21:00
Screening from 20:00
Performance from 20:30
VENUE ADDRESS
Photobook Cafe, 4 Leonards Circus, Shoreditch, EC2A 4DQ, London
Event: In-Conversation at the Royal Photographic Society with Dr Michael Pritchard, 16 June
Please join us for an in-depth conversation about how a better understanding of fire can help with environmental concerns.
Please join us for an in-depth conversation about how a better understanding of fire can help with environmental concerns.
DATE AND TIME
16 June 2020
18:00 - 19:15 BST
17:00 - 18:15 CEST
13:00 - 14:15 EDT
10:00 - 11:15 PDT
Please sign in 10 minutes early
VENUE ADDRESS
Online - Join from your location
Interview and Feature: Royal Photographic Society, The Journal, June 2018.
…”It is an intriguing idea and a beautiful book…” - Gemma Pagley, photography writer, U.K.
‘It is an intriguing idea and a beautiful book’ - Gemma Pagley, photography writer, U.K.
I'm delighted to have been selected to contribute in June's 2018 edition of the RPS, The Journal. Showing photography from my time in the harsh yet sublime boreal forest. The feature has a carefully selected group of photographs and interview by Editor, Kathleen Morgan and photography writer Gemma Padley. A very special thank you to Kathleen and Gemma for making this so enjoyable to read and make!
For full feature & interview please email alan(at)alan-mcfetridge.com
Feature: Royal Photographic Society
“Wild Fire, Wild Suburbs, Wild Energy project. The Boreal Forest is sparsly habitiated by humans, yet full on the rest of nature.”
Delighted to have such a wonderful write up by the RPS in their March News section on my Wild Fire, Wild Suburbs, Wild Energy project.
The Boreal Forest is sparsly habitiated by humans, yet full on the rest of nature. It is the Worlds largest land biome.
Photograph: Black Spruce, Highway 63, Alberta. October 2016 © Alan McFetridge
Environmental Awareness Project: Now With The Story Institute
The Story Institute to manage the Wild Fire, Wild Suburbs, Wild Energy photography
Delighted to announce that an exclusive global agreement with The Story Institute to manage the Wild Fire, Wild Suburbs, Wild Energy photography has been confirmed.
Tower Road, Anzac, Alberta. February 2017 © Alan McFetridge
Please use this link or email Matt at Institute for information.
Feature and Exhibition: The Royal Photographic Society Journal
Delighted to be interviewed by Kathleen Morgan at the RPS Journal for October 2017 and Event Infomration
In 2011, the plant at Mildred Lake site (shown) was the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of in Canada. It is owned by the consortium Syncrude Canada Ltd. The 183-meter high smokestack shown here released over 13 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere in 2011. This includes Ammonia, Sulphuric Acid, and Xylene. The latest available data from Environment Canada shows the plant has lowered emission to 11.4 million tonnes. It is, however, one of seven plants within a 30km radius that released 34 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2015.
Out of sight for many, tar sand refineries are heavy polluters, categorized as ‘non conventional oil extraction’ by Environment Canada. At a time when CO2 levels in the atmosphere are already at the highest levels in 400,000 years. The colossal scale of industry and infrastructure in the region here supplies demand for existing oil-using infrastructure that has been building in OECD countries from around 1920’s-30’s . In the U.S. average consumption is 2.7 gallons (10.2 liters) per person per day. U.S. consumption compares to India’s 0.15 gallons (0.56 liters) per person per day3. Extraordinary, when taking into consideration world population. Countries with high populations contribute the least to the problem of consumption.
This was made possible by a bursary from the Royal Photographic Society and The Photographic Angle. See his work until 28 March at @syngentaphotoaward
There is also an opportunity to view one of the first prints from my RPS Environmental Bursary project is showing tonight at The Royal Photographic Societies IPE 160. Opening in London at Truman's. Please come and join me and the many others that contributed to this year's outstanding exhibition.
Event Details
12 October, Opening Night, 6-9pm.
Exhibition continues 13 - 16 October 2017
Please email alan@alan-mcfetridge.com for the Guest List
My very best,
Alan
Feature: New Commission by Yorkshire Sculpture Park
"Art with Walls": Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth & Anthony Gormley
Alan was commissioned recently to make a series of images to present their impressive permanent collection as a "Art with Walls". Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth & Anthony Gormley's work features in series for the British open air Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Royal Photographic Society Environment Bursary 2016/17
Alan travelled to Fort McMurray recently to explore affected habitat in the Oils Sands region of Alberta, Canada after the May 2016 Wildfire. This field trip is part of the Royal Photographic Societies Environmental Bursary.
LeBook Berlin 2016 - Creative Awards Nomination
Gun Crazy, 2016
Alan's project on biosphere has been nominated for the Creative Award in the Personal category at LeBook, Berlin, 2016.
Special thanks to Photoby, for this nomination.
