Title: Feral Landscape Typologies

Date: 2015-2016

Medium: Photographic prints

Artist: Ellie Irons

Exhibition: Notes of an Urban Pedestrian, 2019

From press release:

This research and photography project is an attempt to develop a typology of dwindling “vacant” spaces of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Of course so-called “vacant” land isn’t really vacant. It lacks the all-encompassing artifice associated with consistently maintained, human-centered habitats. It’s also void of certain culturally recognized markers of rigour, from cement and steel foundations masking and flattening the earth below, to the promise of rising property values for contiguous real estate. But it’s full of many other things: looking beyond plastic bags, candy wrappers and the occasional abandoned mattress, the companion species that flourish in humanity’s shadow come into focus, filling these “empty” spaces to the brim.
The project is ongoing and will include an online map, photo database, collection of plant photos and a selection of herbarium specimens.

From artist’s website:

This research and photography project is an attempt to develop a typology of dwindling “vacant” spaces of Bushwick, Brooklyn. Of course so-called “vacant” land isn’t really vacant. It lacks the all-encompassing artifice associated with consistently maintained, human-centered habitats. It’s also void of certain culturally recognised markers of progress, from cement and steel foundations masking and stabilising the earth below, to the promise of rising property values for contiguous real estate. But it’s full of many other things. Looking beyond plastic bags, candy wrappers and the occasional abandoned mattress, the companion species that flourish in humanity’s shadow come into focus, filling these “empty” spaces to the brim.
This project was on view at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History from 2021–2022 as part of the exhibition “Unsettled Nature“.

Feral Landscape Typologies

Website:

https://ellieirons.com

Instagram:

@elslaurel