Photo © Stig Marlon Weston
Creative - NOMINEE: Stig Marlon Weston
Divinations
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"Divinations" explores the landscape of a holy mountain through the lens of light and chemicals. Using cameraless photography as a medium to bear witness of the sacred and the secular in the natural landscape Weston images are collected photographic relics to be used as interpretable signs and portents.
The Spanish mountain of Montserrat has been the home of hermits and monks since pre-Christian times. Visions of holy lights and angelic music over the mountain led to the discovery of a sacred statue of the virgin Mary in the mountain caves more than 1000 years ago. This inspired the building of a monastery and pilgrim paths that today have turned the site into a densely popular tourist attraction. But the mountain is a national park and is still left mostly deserted.
Exploring the spectacular nature of the landscape Weston brings the ethereal light and massive stone shapes of the waymarkers along the pilgrim paths together in the images. The prints are made in situ as found relics, conveying a feeling of mystery while still deeply rooted in the world of physics. Using techniques of cameraless photography, exposing the lightsensitive film and photopaper directly in the sun and moonlight, Weston deploys the materials as tools of divination. The photographic material are left outside to gather the signals sent from the heavens so they can later be interpreted and read conveying stern advice or comforting guidance on which path to follow.
About author:
Stig Marlon Weston is an artist based in Oslo, Norway. After finishing studies in photography in Norway in 1995 he has been working with cameraless photography for more than 20 years. Using the medium to question ideas of truth and reality he connects the physicality of the subject with the final image of it. He wants his projects to encourage the viewer to reflect on how they interpret what they see and in which ways this connects to what they expect to see and understand in a photograph.
His latest projects have focused on the primal view of Nordic forest landscapes, physical documentation of spiritual guidance found on a holy mountain in Spain and looking at scientific fact gathering through images in the Amazon rainforest. Collecting photographic relics in nature, the photographs become unique proofs of a truth unseen by human eyes. He has exhibited nationally and internationally.
The Spanish mountain of Montserrat has been the home of hermits and monks since pre-Christian times. Visions of holy lights and angelic music over the mountain led to the discovery of a sacred statue of the virgin Mary in the mountain caves more than 1000 years ago. This inspired the building of a monastery and pilgrim paths that today have turned the site into a densely popular tourist attraction. But the mountain is a national park and is still left mostly deserted.
Exploring the spectacular nature of the landscape Weston brings the ethereal light and massive stone shapes of the waymarkers along the pilgrim paths together in the images. The prints are made in situ as found relics, conveying a feeling of mystery while still deeply rooted in the world of physics. Using techniques of cameraless photography, exposing the lightsensitive film and photopaper directly in the sun and moonlight, Weston deploys the materials as tools of divination. The photographic material are left outside to gather the signals sent from the heavens so they can later be interpreted and read conveying stern advice or comforting guidance on which path to follow.
About author:
Stig Marlon Weston is an artist based in Oslo, Norway. After finishing studies in photography in Norway in 1995 he has been working with cameraless photography for more than 20 years. Using the medium to question ideas of truth and reality he connects the physicality of the subject with the final image of it. He wants his projects to encourage the viewer to reflect on how they interpret what they see and in which ways this connects to what they expect to see and understand in a photograph.
His latest projects have focused on the primal view of Nordic forest landscapes, physical documentation of spiritual guidance found on a holy mountain in Spain and looking at scientific fact gathering through images in the Amazon rainforest. Collecting photographic relics in nature, the photographs become unique proofs of a truth unseen by human eyes. He has exhibited nationally and internationally.