“In my 1970s work, I looked for images consistent with a romantic vision of the arts. I was drawn to trees, misty castles, swing sets at night, waves rising from harbor walls, empty beach chairs, and the like. In the 1980s, more industrial subject matter interested me. Just a few years before, I would have spurned the power station in favor of the beautiful Nottingham landscape. Now, I ignored the landscape and focused instead on this monolithic industrial construction. I would continue photographing Ratcliffe for almost twenty years.”
~ Michael Kenna
(1953)
Michael Kenna's work from Ratcliffe lives in a different world where I wonder who or what made the pictures. It's hard to imagine any human being standing before these concrete monolithic beasts towering over the beautiful green landscape of Nottinghamshire. Through long exposures, repetition, and ritual return to the same location, Kenna allows these structures to shed their weight, becoming quieter, more elusive, and strangely timeless, as if they exist outside of industry altogether.
