Jane Burton-Taylor’s new exhibition comprises a series of large-scale triptychs of centuries-old olive groves, some dating back to the Middle Ages. The exhibition, ‘Grove’, was photographed over three years in southern Italy and explores ideas of space, memory and our relationship with nature.
“To me these groves are like an architectural space; a man-made natural space…I am also very interested in memory and metaphorically connecting past and present civilisations. With these photographs, all taken from different angles but put together as if continuous, the viewer experiences a slightly unreal sense of place. They are like a memory, which recalls an impression of place, but is never exactly as it is in reality.”
On a deeper level, Grove explores the spiritual and physical relationship humans have with nature by showing we can live harmoniously with nature, or we can destroy it, slowly and unconsciously.
“Olive trees prosper by being pruned and harvested, so there is a natural and productive interdependency between these groves and human beings. In an era when the natural world is under massive pressure from human activity, they are a symbol for the potential rewards for humans if they act as responsible and thoughtful stewards of the land.”
Remarkably, some of the olive trees pictured in the exhibition have been tended by more than 40 generations of people. All images from the exhibition were shot on film with a 50-year-old Hasselblad medium-format camera and printed on archival quality paper. Grove runs from 14 November to 1 December at the Barometer Gallery, 13 Gurner Street (cnr Duxford St), Paddington. The gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm.
