Clear Cut Agro Forest & Abandoned Research Station by Richelle Forsey
Location: Humber College North Campus - H Building 1st Floor Hallway
Medium: Aerial Photography
Artist Statement:
I have been experimenting with aerial photography for the last two years to slow down my process of image-making. This has helped me explore human-impacted lands and built environments through a more gradual means of looking. Clear Cut Agro Forest and Abandoned Research Site are part of an ongoing photography series documenting locations I discover while surveying neighboring landscapes using a drone. To me, this body of work has quickly become a unique expression of place – sites that I would not have seen from the ground below without my drone technology.
These two images express a duality of emotions. On the one hand, grief for the trees that were destined to be razed; and on the other, a wonderment for the determination of a forest ready to reclaim what was once theirs. They represent a moment of memory-making, when I discovered a deeper appreciation for the land I reside on. They also explore the fragility of time by recording the existence of the land and how these places remain in constant flux. Surprising encounters like these have had an enormous impact on my research and continue to shape the unusual ways in which I see, understand, and interact with the land I live on. These are the moments I do not want to forget. And if I had not been looking, I would have missed altogether.
Artist: Richelle Forsey | University of Guelph-Humber Photography Technician
Artist Bio:
Richelle Forsey is an interdisciplinary process-based creator and writer. Her practice is rooted in storytelling, the discourse of images, aleatory outputs, and ultimately making works for ‘slow looking’ – a practice akin to Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening. Richelle is a founding member of the photography collective TLR Club and a graphic artist for the indie experimental music label Aural Tethers. She resides in Guelph and is the Photography Technician at the University of Guelph-Humber.
