Unearthing by Steph Harrison

Unearthing the layers of remembered landscapes was vital to the artists wellbeing during lockdown. The collection of work is in response to the importance and restorative benefits of being amongst nature. Humans have a fundamental emotional or spiritual connection to nature. The Biophilia Hypothesis describes our innate human affinity and the need for contact with the natural environment, this was heightened as the pandemic intensified and our daily lives were restricted.

Through printmaking, painted and photographic references, the artist expresses these traces of memories through construction and deconstruction of colour, line and mark making in the search for a sense of place: the focus on the outer landscape as a visual interpretation, and the inner landscape of memory and emotion.

“I paint what I find as an artefact, documenting as a reimagined memory of a place in time: the emotion, the oneness. remembering allows concentration, my physical limitations loose importance, and I am free to walk for miles in my imagination”.

Being in landscape recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude and silence. The artist aims to unearth the landscape and reintroduce the viewer to their surroundings, revitalise them, reveal intensities and potential points of entry for imagination and to pay attention to what it reveals. It can be meditative and healing, but more importantly imperative for our survival. Humans and nature alike can be flexible and resilient or breakable and vulnerable. This raises important issues of humanity's commitment to the future well being of ecological, social and cultural life on earth.

You can find out more about Steph's work here