In the context of landscape, our attention is often drawn to the ‘grand vision’ —the orchestrated drama sunsets, big mountains with flowers on the valley floor. Yet, an alternative to this grandeur are the quiet, unassuming elements: the stones, the scrub brush, a tree on an open landscape. These are not merely background—they are essential, integral parts of the visual and emotional experience of place.
My practice investigates the layered perceptions of landscape, considering both the visible and the experiential. The shifting play of light affects our sense of time, presence, and dimensionality. The feel of wind, the ambient hush of remote spaces, and the rhythm of movement through the environment—all contribute to a heightened awareness.
Working with the photographic medium, I explore the role of lighting, selective focus, grain, and motion as tools—directing attention, modulating spatial relationships, and suggesting relationships between natural elements.
There is, too, a spiritual undercurrent within the landscape. It is an animated, sentient presence. It is both present and aloof. It has beauty to be noticed, but doesn’t care about our desires.
As an artist-observer and participant, my aim is to distill these layers of perception—visual, tactile, temporal, emotional—into a two-dimensional form. The resulting images are not meant as literal documentation, but rather as visual translations of experience: my dialogue with the land, studies in light, time and spatial relationships, and my interpretations of mood and moment.
This collection represents a selection of works created over the recent years that reflect my evolving relationship with this way of seeing and sensing the landscape.
Michael Sexton
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