Go lightly

Go lightly

My recent ski trip to Slovakia has surprisingly given new meaning and direction to my work. I’ve always been drawn to the majesty of arches. Often soaring above us making our presence seem so tiny and inconsequential.

An early ride up the cable car (which I called the pumpkin) onto the slopes gave me a birds eye view and therefore a new perspective. Often told to draw into the snow with my pole during lessons I saw the ski tracts as brush marks. We were so small, like ants in the vast space of the mountains. I thought about the journey I had made. The impact I have on the world and how small and insignificant I felt. I saw the structures as lines, the trees as texture and the clarity of soft against crisp as hard edges and delicate lines.

The journey to and from the airport showed how important and yet ugly industrial buildings were. The snow covering distracting detail and focussing me in on meaning and thoughts. The bill boards huge by the roadside desperately trying to catch the passers by attention. Is that what I am trying to do? or am I making a mark on the world, creating presence? I was making tracks.

I thought about the industrial revolution…and how important trains were to our development across the world. Their tracks, infrastructure and architect spanning gaps and making the world smaller. They arched across divides. No wonder I find them inspiring and majestic.

I recorded my journey home realising I had come full circle back to my arch. I photographed tracks, bridges, tunnels and saw again, with a new emphasis how we make footprints. I smiled at the memory of a girl at school called Golightly. She inspired me to photograph my own footprints in the snow early that morning up on the slopes. I want people to understand what impact they have and how we need to go lightly and preserve what we have made and what we cannot replenish or replace be it animal, mineral or time.