A Handful of Dust: From the Cosmic to the Domestic

Introduction

          Since the 1970s, photography has become an integral part of the aesthetic world, because it is a versatile medium for artists to express their thoughts. A Handful of Dust: From the Cosmic to the Domestic (“Dust”) attests to such a trend; it remains popular beyond the period of art photography movement, 1965-2000. Dust is a collection of photographs taken by luminary artists from the last 100 years such as, in alphabetical order, Marcel Duchamp, Walker Evans, Mona Kuhn, Man Ray, Sophie Ristelhueber, Jeff Wall, and Nick Waplington. Dust was on world tours to many prestigious galleries in many metropolises such as London, Paris. It is currently being exhibited at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver, February 8 to April 28, 2019.

            At Polygon, the exhibition is divided into three sections: the south wing (on the left from the entrance door) houses black and white archive photographs of people and sceneries on a green wall background, the center displays large print black and white photographs, and the north wing displays coloured photographs; the latter two exhibits are on a white wall background. The display ranges from single photographs to installation (Fig. 1) and none of the captions narrates the artist’s state of mind. Thus the interpretations of the artworks are constrained only by our imagination. After experiencing the exhibition, I hypothesize that the photographers used dust as a metaphor for real life situations, especially in humans and other living things. For them, dust is not just a piece of particle floating around in space, it symbolizes life as the curator David Campany states, “we come from dust”.  In this review, I will discuss the work of two artists, namely Jeff Wall and Nick Waplington, and present my thoughts on how the artists perceived dust to be a potent abstraction of life.

Fig. 1 Layout of the photographs in the Center section of the exhibit at Polygon Gallery. The installation on the wall is Xavier Ribas’ Nomads, 2008. Another installation is placed on a glass table: A Handful of Dust, Polygon, North Vancouver, Feb. 8–April 28, 2019. The standing person for scale is me (165 cm).

Rock Surface (2006 - 2007) by Jeff Wall

In Rock Surface, also known as Rock Surface 1 and 2, Jeff Wall’s two side-by-side photographs show different rock surfaces, which are covered partially by dust (Fig. 2). Despite being part of the “Dust” show, two critics did not link the exhibit to Wall’s general description of his work as representation or recreation of moments as he has witnessed. For instance, G. Aloi 

Fig 2: Jeff Wall, Rock Surface (2006-2007), 2 silver gelatin prints, part of the Polygon Art Gallery's Private Collection

         For instance, G. Aloi praised Wall’s techniques to take photographs, pointed out the simplicity and black-and-white scheme as the quieter color fitting the “theory-aware” Jeff Wall (without elaboration), and considered Rock Surface as an abstract work (whitehotmagazine.com). By contrast, another critic simply opined that the image “…exploring geological patterns and dimensions of nature. … a continuation of his examination of perceived reality” (www.newmuseum.org).

            As a conceptual artist, Wall is concerned with the ideas behind the creation of his work more than anything else even the outcome of the final products. Thus, in concert with Wall’s artistic tendency, Rock Surface can be interpreted in terms of moments in a life cycle by using dust and rock as two opposite points of time during the rock cycle. Rocks undergoing physical and chemical weathering will over time disintegrate into smaller particles such as sands and even dust. The dust alone or together with other coarser materials will eventually settle in a depositional environment—lake, stream or ocean, to become piles of sediments. Burial, compaction, and heating transform the sediments to rocks. Further heating deep inside the earth will melt the rocks into a molten rock called magma. When this magma rises to a near-surface level or breaches the surface, i.e., volcanic eruption, it solidifies as rocks. Now these newly-formed rocks repeat the above cycle of destruction and integration. Each of the subsequent rocks will appear differently from its precursor, but their life cycle will be the same. That’s why although the rocks in the two photographs differ in texture, but they undergo similar processes. Moreover, their dusts are visually indistinguishable. This transformation shows the reduction of significance from the tangible protolith (rock) to the diminutive, intangible progeny (dust). As Wall once claimed or still claims his work to be ‘near documentary’, he could have used Rock Surface to recount his own journey and varied practices, and predict his future. He has so far passed through many milestones (analogous to the steps in the rock transformation) in his life, but he is not in the ‘dust’ stage yet. However, as an art historian, he may as well realize that one day when his creations cease, his prominence in the art sphere may diminish. In other words, he or his work will resemble a handful of dust within a vast cloud of dust representing those preceding him from time immemorial.

Adora, Kryat Arba, and Carmal from The Patriach's Wardrobe (‘Adora’),

by Nick Waplington.

            In Adora, Nick Waplington displays three photographs of waste landfill sites south of the city of Hebron, where children of the displaced Palestinians scavenge scrap metals (Fig. 3). 

Fig. 3 Nick Waplington, Adora, Kryat Arba, and Carmal from The Patriach's Wardrobe, 2010, Oil and enamel on canvas, chromogenic prints.

            Each of the photographs is accompanied by a photographed abstract painting by the artist. Originally, Waplington bought metals from the children for use in his sculptures; however the rigid local economic and social structure inhibited the plan. Thus, he incorporated the metals into his paintings, which he subsequently photographed. The artist’s goal is to create the distinction between pain and beauty through what he had seen. Cusack (2013) opined that the photos portray the pain suffered by the locals, whereas the paintings reflect their aesthetic beauty.

            With the exception of the children, all the photographs lack details to show the exhibit theme, dust, or the other story component, the metals. In fact, none of the photographs is as sharp as one would expect from a renowned photographer, who certainly could have stopped down the aperture of his camera in order to bring the foreground and background objects in focus. But, that’s how the slightly hazy and partly blurred photographs alluded to the dusty conditions at the sites. The real drama is concealed in the paintings. For instance, the strokes of the paintings are especially strong, as if drawing the viewer’s attention to the serious undertones about the hard life of the displaced in a wasteland. Their brilliant but chaotic texture set in a fuzzy background, especially on the left and middle paintings, portrays the pieces of metal in the dusty, literally and figuratively, and dysfunctional ‘habitat’. Dust as a metaphor for dire situations is common in the literature as well. Chinese historians summarized the suffering of the people during wars in one phrase, “dust-shrouded citizens”. The blending of the metals and dust is particularly telling Waplington’s intent to regard both objects as one entity, metal-dust mixtures; after all they are treated as wastes in a larger context of life. Since the children can only hand-pick a small quantity of the mixtures, the children essentially collect a handful of dust. As mentioned previously, Waplington’s objective is to tell the inner world of what he sees, the good and the bad. Adora illustrates vividly scenes of a difficult subject matter that are hard and pleasing on the eyes.

Conclusion

            This review concludes that two seemingly unrelated objects, the tangible artworks and the barely visible dust, when combined, can be powerful story-tellers on behalf of the creators, whose private thoughts are inconspicuously embedded in them. Although abstract or conceptual arts are considerably open to contrasting interpretations, a meaningful analysis requires some knowledge of the subject. In Rock Surface, some understanding of the origin of rocks and dust helps link them to a common source, therefore enabling us to translate their evolution into our life cycle. Similarly, knowing the conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian over the desert guides us to the meaning of Adora. Artists do not reveal their secrets easily, but they do provide some hints, as both Wall and Waplington did.

 References

Broome, Henry. “A Handful of Dust: Photography after Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.” Studio International - Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, 2017, www.studiointernational.com/index.php/a-handful-of-dust-photography-after-man-ray-marcel-duchamp-review-whitechapel-gallery-london.

“Contemporary Photography.” Artsy, www.artsy.net/gene/contemporary-photography.

Cusack, Jenny. “Nick Waplington: Patriarch's Wardrobe.” Magazine.com, 24 Oct. 2013, www.port-magazine.com/art-photography/nick-waplington-patriarchs-wardrobe/.

“Jeff Wall.” Gagosian, 12 Apr. 2018, gagosian.com/artists/jeff-wall/.

Laurence, Robin. “From Hiroshima to Desert Wars, Polygon Gallery's A Handful of Dust Digs into Dread.” Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly, 27 Feb. 2019, www.straight.com/arts/1202801/hiroshima-desert-wars-polygon-gallerys-handful-dust-digs-dread.

“New Limited EditionsHello Museum.” Rock Surface :: New Museum, www.newmuseum.org/join/limitededitions/view/rock-surface.

"Jeff Wall Photography Philosophy." UKEssays.com. 11 2018. All Answers Ltd. 03 2019 <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/arts/jeff-wall-and-myths-about-photography-art-essay.php?vref=1>.