Nicholas Hughes (b.1963, UK) spends much of his time walking alone, observing the landscape and recording subtle changes in the countryside over many years.
A passionate environmentalist, Hughes examines the space between the world we live in and what nature still claims as its own. In an era of always-on news and potential desensitisation, the beauty of these works draws us in, allowing an underlying tension to unfold and prompt more urgent reflection.
While his landscapes initially evoke familiar natural scenes, an unsettling quality emerges as Hughes subtly fractures them using a unique hybrid process. Each print is constructed using a combination of analogue and digital processes, beginning with images made on medium and large-format film. In the studio, these negatives are layered with fragments of earlier prints and natural light, resulting in works constructed from multiple moments and materials. This layering mirrors the multiplicity of environmental changes which may have become normalised or overlooked over time.
Some of these interventions echo nature; dramatic rays of light, falling snow, or the rush of wind and water. Elsewhere, textures and apparent ‘cuts’ interrupt the surface, suggesting a disturbance or tear in the delicate equilibrium we often take for granted. Hughes’ landscapes depict tension between stillness and foreboding; a calm that may precede environmental crisis, or calm before the storm.
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