I couldn’t help but be impacted by my recent research trip
to Iceland (where I took part in an artist’s residency in the northern part of
the island) upon my return to the Floridian, tropical landscape that surrounds
the still-shifting site of the airport’s runway construction. The Icelandic
landscape evoked many of the same responses I’ve had to the runway site over
these last 15 months – albeit in a much more extreme manner. With the runway site in the front of my mind,
the otherworldly terrain I encountered while traveling resonated in a
particular manner it may not have otherwise – I found myself questioning piles
of dirt and various formations, and having difficulty discerning whether they
were man-made or naturally occurring, in some instances. The visual results of the modification of the
land, impacted by either geology or technology can seem strangely in harmony
and discord, simultaneously.
These thoughts were at the forefront of my mind as I
captured new images of the site – returning to many of the spaces that have
become so familiar, taking note of the variance in accumulation and coloration
of earth and debris on my favorite little “mountains”, and looking again to the
palms and mangroves that line the periphery.
A few rough composite images from my last visit are below.
Click on images for larger view, please.
