Whispers from an Ancient World
My MA Final Project is finished! Whispers of the Ancient World, has only just begun…
Whispers from an Ancient World, by Sullaman. © T. S. Clark (2023)
As I develop my technique, I plan to find more spectacular ancient trees, and experiment with photographing them in new ways. This is my attempt at the EcoGothic, embracing the sublime, to suggest that they have character and something greater to them than being ‘just’ a tree, and demand a sense of awe when in their company. Each is an individual, and I have a story tell about each one too. Unfortunately all I know is a mere fragment of their existence, and it is unfathomable to me to fully know what their experience of the world must be like. I will tell the story of my experience with each of them individually, over the coming weeks, and bring in new ones to the fold. The MA Photography course has been hugely instrumental in helping me find this direction, and elevate my work. I cannot thank or recommend them enough!
For now, this is where the university part of this project ends, but this only marks the beginning of where it will go. The prints are ready, and the exhibition is next to prepare for. Much more will be added to this site soon, including high quality limited edition prints, and new social media channels.
Watch this space!
What is intelligence?
Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence, by James Bridle (2022, Farrar, Straus & Giroux), and Planta Sapiens: Unmasking Plant Intelligence, by Paco Calvo and Natalie Lawrence (2022, The Bridge Street Press)
As the poet and visionary William Blake wrote:
‘The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way.
Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all.
But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.’
James Bridle (p. 16; 2022, Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
In the last bit of research I did for my final project, an exciting new way of looking at intelligence is proposed by James Bridle in his book, Ways of Being. He explains that much of the science of studying intelligence in non-human beings, has until recently been flawed by human-centric bias. By measuring other animals abilities to solve puzzles, scientists have wrongly measured intelligence according to human perceptions of how it should be defined. Instead, recent science is revealing that the ‘more-than-human’ have experiences of their own, unlike ours, and that for them, intelligence could mean something different that we can’t fully grasp, a wholly subjective experience of the world.
“To think against human exceptionalism requires us to think outside and beyond it, and to recognise in Blake’s vision the deep truth of his words: nature is imagination itself. In this truth is encapsulated the philosophy behind the phrase I used earlier: the more-than-human world.”
James Bridle (p. 17; 2022, Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
In Planta Sapiens, a book I have recently started, Paco Calvo reveals through studying plants, that he is able to demonstrate to the public that plants respond to anaesthesia and go to sleep, just like an animal or human would. He then posits the question, does that mean they are normally awake? He suggests that each plant has an individual experience of the world, as they can move to follow the sun, and even predict its position the following morning. Does this mean they are aware? If this is true of the smaller plants he studies, I wonder what it might mean for giant ancient trees. After all, in Suzanne Simard’s work I studied last year, the ground-breaking scientist who revealed that trees can communicate via underground mycorrhizal networks, if her science has only recently come to the fore, what else might we discover?
“We are so entrenched in the dogma of neuronal intelligence, brain-centric consciousness, that we find it difficult to imagine alternative kinds of internal experience.”
Paco Calvo, (p. 3; 2022, Bridge Street Press)
Rewilding my creativity
If you get stuck, sit by something moving in nature, like a stream of water, and you will get moving again, and many more nuggets of wisdom!
An 8 week online course, Rewilding Mythology, hosted by Sophie Strand, by Advaya.
“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
I joined and attended this hugely inspiring, richly rewarding and creatively uplifting course that started by throwing participants in at the deep end of intellectual thought. The speakers said so much in each sentence, it was hard to follow at first. As I got used to the language and into the flow of thought, it began to stir the imagination, and frame many of my interests in ecologically connected ways. This course was about the now, how we got here and where we are headed, but ultimately motivating us to work out what to do about it.
“When you’re in the woods, follow the sound. See where it leads you. Hold up your hands, cup your ear, listen.”
- Josh Schrei, Week 2.
Politically radical, topics such as the science fiction of Ursula Le Guin, and other lesser known writers, merged with how we, as creatives, can approach our surroundings in new and ancient ways, and listen to what nature wants us to create. It was an interconnected, holistic and alternative whirlwind of where science meets spirituality, and where humans connect to the natural around and inside.
The speakers were artists of different disciplines, spoken, visual and musical, intellectuals, scientists and thinkers, mythologists and storytellers, talking about their own experiences of doing things differently in their own fields, giving plenty of ideas to participants and involving them in discussions with questions at the end of each session. Sophie Strand, the host and writer, eloquently and intelligently steered the talks in thought-provoking ways.
Looking for inspiration: Part 3
Inventive photographic processes at an exhibition about Neo-Pictorialism at the RPS in Bristol, gave me some ideas…
“Neo-Pictorialism has an emphasis on the aesthetic and embraces the other-worldly. It is a direct and positive reaction to the digital age and new technologies. Photoshop, scanners and printers all greatly assist in the creation of the digital negative, enabling twenty-first century photographers and artists to make traditional photographic prints using historic process and technique.”
Squaring the Circles of Confusion, curated by Zelda Cheatle, at RPS House, Bristol. 2022
In this exhibition I discovered two photographers, David George who took some atmospheric night shots in natural surroundings, which of course I was drawn to, and Susan Derges, whose work was presented beautifully and unusually, and combined natural elements in a way that held the gaze. Ideally I’d like to present my work in a stylish way too, so it gave me some ideas about exhibiting my work. But first I’d have to complete it.
Seeing trees in a new light
An ancient crack willow, in a field, in the dark. It spoke to me…
An ancient crack willow, captured in the dark using long exposures. © T. S. Clark (2023)
On my way to photograph Sherwood Forest, I planned to stop along an ancient Roman road near Coventry, to seek out this willow and photograph it in the golden evening light. I set out a little later than planned, and by the time I had arrived the sun was below the horizon, but with enough natural blue light to see where I was going. I had to walk through a couple of fields, and as it got darker on a clear night, I had to use my phone torch to see where I was going. Sheep in a neighbouring field were settling down for the night. The public pathway I was on eventually led me to the right tree, after a couple of false positives. Armed with a tripod, I was determined to get something now that I had made it this far.
The first shots on the other side of the trunk made the tree a silhouette against the fading light in the sky. When I moved around to the viewpoint you see here, I knew I could get good textures in the bark from natural, and possibly some far-off urban light. By this time it was dark, and the long exposures make it look brighter than it was. The star trails and movement in the branches give this away.
The result felt ethereal, like a part-living, magnificent being, and part ghost. Actually, a lot of the bark you see here is indeed already dead. I do not know the age of this tree, but I know it has lived for several, if not many human generations, and is still alive to this day. It felt lost, forgotten, and abandoned in this agricultural zone, not far from huge urban centres. How the landscape must have changed around it. I don’t know if it wanted to say something to me, but maybe it tried in a way I do not understand. Perhaps these images translate what it said. I wanted to learn more.
The Forest and the EcoGothic
How and why have forests been depicted as dark, scary places for so long? This book has the answers, and shows the way to move forward…
“Robert Harrison, in his seminal work Forests: The Shadow of Civilisation (1992), mourns the widespread loss of our connection to the woods, arguing that we now see them as mere setting and resource. We have largely lost the ability, it seems, to see them as truly strange, monstrous, and enchanting.”
Elizabeth Parker, The Forest and the EcoGothic: The Deep Dark Woods in the Popular Imagination (p. 5; Palgrave MacMillan, 2021)
On my trip to photograph Sherwood Forest, due to the historical and mythical tales of Robin Hood, and also as one of the largest collections of ancient oaks in Europe, I started reading The Forest and the EcoGothic, and it had a profound effect, particularly on my vision for my final project. It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for.
In this book, which focuses on the darker, scarier side of depictions of forests, Elizabeth Parker reiterates some of the points Harrison made in Forests. Parker says that people's fascination with the romanticised concept of forests reflects their sense of loss and the significance of forests to them, and is symbolic of a variety of emotions and situations, including danger, renewal, and bewilderment. She explains the literature on forest mythologies is vast, and Gothic depictions of forests in stories may be the result of innate fears and fears created in stories. During environmental crises, Parker argues for seeking out ‘Gothic Nature’, as well as ‘Romantic Nature’, because it brings an important darkness of nature worth embracing.
When I started reading this, I had just taken some shots that would open up a new way of portraying trees to me, that fit in superbly with the Gothic and Romantic, by evoking the ‘sublime.’
“In a broader sense, The Forest and the EcoGothic significantly examines our representations of and relationship to nonhuman Nature. It does so in a time when understanding—and questioning—this relationship is more vital than ever before.”
(p. 3; Parker, 2021)
Finding forests and seeking skies
I found a misty scene unfolding in Sherwood Forest as it got dark.
Images from Cleeve Hill, Forest of Dean, Savernake Forest and Sherwood Forest. Copyright T. S. Clark 2023 ©
I continued to capture images that I thought I could use in some way for my project. At first as potential assets for compositing or double exposures, hence the sky shots. Later as either images I could use for a final selection without fully knowing why, or simply to experiment and discover a new approach. The trip to Sherwood Forest was the last of this approach for my final project, as it was on my way there that I found a new technique.
Langdon Hill and Golden Cap
A walk around a wooded hill to get to the highest point on the South Coast, for some spectacular sunset views!
While visiting relatives on the South Coast in Dorset, I took the opportunity to walk around the wooded Langdon Hill, up to the highest point along the Jurassic Coast, Golden Cap. I hoped to get more images that could be used as scenes or assets for my project, as well as having good stretch of the legs rewarded with magnificent views. It wasn’t too busy, and I spotted and heard wild creatures around me, including a kestrel hovering to find its last meal of the day. © T. S. Clark (2023)
Going back to the Dark Ages
How far back does the separation from civilisation and forests go? I delved into the Dark Ages and beyond to fine out…
The Real Middle Earth by Brian Bates, The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris, Beowulf: A New Translation by Seamus Heaney, and Forests: The Shadow of Civilization by Robert Harrison
I read J. R. R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy of The Lord of the Rings the previous summer. At the time, I was curious about what locations near me he was influenced by in creating Middle-Earth, and thought it would be a fun landscape photography project. When I came across Brian Bates' The Real Middle Earth, it discusses the historical sources that Tolkien drew from and his ideas for his fictional natural landscapes, such as Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and Fanghorn, which were inspired by ancient forests like the great Andredesweald that were seen as sacred groves and the homes of potent spirits by the people who lived there. This led me to want to understand more about that time, so I found The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris.
Morris paints a brutal picture of the land that eventually became England, after the fall of the Roman Empire, and the gradual taking over of the land by Anglo-Saxon colonists, often by force. In this lawless time, the strongest and often meanest clans became local, then regional powers, eventually leading to the first kingdoms. It was around this time that the epic old English poem Beowulf was written, and is used by Morris as one of his more accurate depictions of Anglo-Saxon life, despite it also containing fictional monsters.
As a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, Tolkien also studied Beowulf, and I was intrigued by what this story said about nature. Although the story links the habitats of the monsters with the wild, and that they are beast-like creatures that eat people, the story itself appears more about the struggle of power, suggesting the beast within man. The linking of nature to danger and evil, suggests a Christian influence, but it may also be a reflection of the mindset of those who lived in perilous times.
“In the history of Western civilization, forests represent an outlying realm of opacity which has allowed that civilization to estrange itself, enchant itself, terrify itself, ironize itself, in short to project into the forest's shadows its secret and innermost anxieties. In this respect the loss of forests entails more than merely the loss of ecosystems.”
Forests: The Shadow of Civilization, Robert Harrison (preface; University of Chicago Press, 1992)
I’ve only scratched the surface of this book by Harrison, but it appears he was interested in something similar to what I wanted to find out, why had the forest been depicted as a scary place so many times in different cultures? Especially when my own experiences of them had been calming, even therapeutic, and places of beauty. Further discoveries in research and practice led me to deeper thought on this matter, and how it could be reframed.
A walk around Stourhead
A refreshing visit to the area surrounding Stourhead, where I found myself among beautiful nature.
After a difficult period of poor health, I managed to get out to walk on the hills around Stourhead, where I continued to search for usable assets, discover some history, and enjoy the wonderfully therapeutic experience of being in a beautiful green space. © T. S. Clark (2023)
Looking for inspiration: Part 2
England on Fire: A Visual Journey Through Albion’s Psychic Landscape, is a stunning piece of curation from Stephen Ellcock.
After seeing In The Black Fantastic next door, I wandered into the Haywood Gallery shop and had a browse. I spotted this book, now one of the best art books I own, and immediately it felt entirely relevant for my research and also a complete joy in its diversity and depth of content. These are just a handful of artists I found through this book, named in the captions when you view full size. They each seemed to fit the mood I wanted to go for, having long been interested in wooded scenes in moody low light. I have since followed Stephen Ellcock on Facebook, where he regularly posts evocative discoveries, and have since collected his next book, The Cosmic Dance, proving himself to be a hot curator to follow.
Looking for inspiration: Part 1
In The Black Fantastic was a stunning exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in 2022!
While I was on a short trip to London, I visited In The Black Fantastic at the Haywood Gallery, as the retelling of mythology in fantasy, and science fiction visions from the perspective of the contemporary African diaspora held strong appeal to get ideas for my own retelling of mythology, as well as to marvel at the colourful and inventive exhibits.
Enjoying many of the different takes on show, this is just a small selection of my snap happy captures, the work of Sedrick Chisom with his retelling of mythology and the legacy of racism stopped me in my tracks. And even more powerfully the art of Ellen Gallagher, colourful and stunning depictions of some of the most heart-rendering horrors of the Transatlantic slave trade intertwined with the undersea natural world.
A visit to the New Forest
I went to the New Forest, to see what was around as darkness fell…
After visiting a relative nearby, I stopped at one of my favourite locations for photography over the years, and probably my most photographed woodland landscape, the New Forest. I took pictures until it was too dark to continue. I was pleased that the ponies would allow me to get reasonably close, but I made sure to keep enough distance and emanate a gentle presence. © T. S. Clark (2023)
Experiments in AI art
Discovering Midjourney AI art generator
Anglo-Saxon warrior queens and spider witches created in Midjourney AI
When I first came across AI art generators, they were exploding in popularity on social media, in the summer of 2022. I was immediately excited by the possibilities in how I could use it, as my project focused on compositing images inspired by myths. I could introduce assets of a fictional nature, to add to scenes to create narrative depictions. I experimented with some characters at first, and found that AI had some inherent biases that I would have to counter with tweaking the prompts. I used MidJourney for the images posted here. Inspired by myth and history, I started by asking it to create spider witches and warrior queens.
Surreal gothic fantasy scenes generated from one of my photographs as an image prompt, using Midjourney
Another issue that seemed to be coming up a lot in discussions on social media, plenty of them heated, was the question of authorship. This took on additional significance once it was revealed that artists work had been used to train the language models but without their permission. It would be very easy to copy the style of their work without attribution. While I still feel that AI art programs are an exciting development, I would only feel okay using them if I prompted them to generate images from my own source material, which become a new development. I tried creating some scenes from an image I took, but the AI may still have used other styles without me specifying anyone.
My current thoughts are undecided, and I’m keeping an eye on developments. I do think that mostly, images produced by AI can be original, and it’s not simply a case of copying others. The quality and originality of AI art is ultimately down to the user, and how much they hone their ability to craft prompts, and if they have original ideas to start with. For now I’m happy with my current photographic style, which has developed throughout this project, as you will see in the upcoming posts.
Beasts, myths, history and art
TV and video recommendations on myths, monsters and art history.
To find out more about the history of art, depictions of nature and the origins of mythical creatures, I watched two BBC documentaries and a YouTube playlist by Crash Course.
Civilisations is a 2018 BBC documentary series that explores the history of human civilisation through art and culture. The series spans over 50,000 years, from the earliest cave paintings to contemporary art. Of particular interest to me was episode three, about depictions of nature in art. It introduced me to the work of Albrecht Altdorfer, one of the earliest landscape artists who used the shape of trees to replace religious iconography. Later in the episode, the work of pioneer landscape photography Ansel Adams is explored. The series as a whole is a fascinating insight into key moments of art history, and how they both reflected and influenced the societies they came from.
The Crash Course World Mythology series on YouTube helped to shed more light on some of the origins of different civilisations perspectives on our relationship with the natural world. The episode on creation myths seemed particularly relevant for what I was trying to find out. It examines the different approaches cultures used to depict animals and humans, and the stark differences between them, such as how Judeo-Christian origin myths place humans above animals, yet in several Native American beliefs, animals helped humans in the beginning of the world.
In Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History, Stephen Fry looks at depictions of animals in popular culture such as in fantasy, and traces them to mythology. We discover that Asian dragons are wise, benevolent serpent-like creatures, while European dragons are fearsome, fire-breathing beasts. The Aztec dragon-like god Quetzalcoatl had feathers and sharp fangs, while the rainbow serpent from Australian Aboriginal mythology had a large reptilian head and monstrous teeth. Dragons have snake-like scales, sharp teeth and strong limbs like lions, and eagle-like talons. The dragon may be a hybrid of those three animals, according to recent research.
I’d recommend all three titles to watch, with the most interesting for me being Civilisations, the passion that the presenters Simon Schama, Mary Beard and David Olusoga bring adds to the enlightening perspectives. I’d also highly recommend the Crash Course in European History on their YouTube channel for greater depth behind Western cultural movements.
Inspiration from fiction
“The forest itself looked tangled, dense and hostile; I could see away across the foliage tops, and they were unbroken, a sea of grey green, rippling in the wind, looking almost organic, a single entity, breathing and shifting restlessly beneath the unwelcome aerial gaze.”
- Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock (p107; 2014, Gollancz).
Mythago Wood, a fantasy novel by Robert Holdstock, delves into the idea of mythic archetypes and the human ability to create.
The story's protagonist, Steven Huxley, returns to his childhood home in England after his father's death.
He learns that Ryhope Wood, not far away, is a place where myths and legends come to life, and he is dragged into a journey to learn about and face the formidable and potentially dangerous forces at work in the wood.
During the course of the journey, he faces his own personal demons and learns about the deep connections between his family, the forest, and the fantastical creatures who call it home.
I found this story an engaging one, certainly strange in places but deliberately so. For me, it was as much about discovering the wild within and having connotations of the ‘Green Man’, as it was about the wooded environment. I look forward to reading the second book in the series. The mystical aspect reminded me of some of my childhood experiences playing in woods in Wales, where I spent some of my youth growing up.
“He dreamed that a tree was growing at the foot of his bed and filling the sky. He started to climb, using the giant fissures in the bark as hand and footholds. As he looked up, he saw the canopy was ablaze with lanterns and laden with flowers. They drew quickly nearer as he climbed, though the tree was very tall, so that soon Kenelm had reached the uppermost bough and was crawling along it to find a seat among the flowers. Never before had he seen anything so grand and perfect as the tree in which he was sitting. And when he looked ahead, he recognised the hills and rivers of his kingdom opening out before him: Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire and beyond, all within his view.”
Storyland, Amy Jeffs (p212; 2022, Riverrun)
Storyland by Amy Jeffs is a book that delves into British myths and legends from ancient times to the Norman conquest. It follows the stories of giants, heroes, kings, queens, saints, monsters, and magic that shaped British identity and culture.
In the Beginning, Prehistory, Antiquity, and the Middle Ages are the four sections of the book. Amy Jeffs retells several stories in each section with her own style and imagination. The book also includes Jeffs' linocut prints, which depict some of the scenes and characters.
Of particular interest for this project, was the depiction of a huge tree in Kenelm’s dream, based in Winchcombe, just a short journey from my home in Gloucestershire. I’d have to find a local tree that could match the description! Amy Jeffs next book, Wild, should be even more relevant for my project, a continuation of her writings but related to depictions of nature.
Continuing from my previous project…
In Interrogating Practice, the penultimate module for MA Photography, I produced a set of images created through combining exposures, to generate abstract forest images inspired by woodland folklore and mythology…
In Interrogating Practice, the penultimate module for MA Photography, I produced a set of images created through combining exposures, to generate abstract forest images inspired by woodland folklore and mythology, but to be deliberately ambiguous in interpretation.
A large part of this choice came from my background and interest in filmmaking and visual storytelling. As the module was oriented to experimental practice, I opted for more abstract results, but I was keen on exploring the story-inspired image further, with perhaps a clearer, more literal interpretation.
My initial idea for the final project, was to start with the double exposure approach that I’d established in the previous module, and introduce additional elements as assets and blend them in to create visual depictions of fictional scenes that take place in forest settings, inspired by mythology, fantasy and history, but with a contemporary twist.