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Posted on March 18, 2017

The Last Stand
David Ellingsen
March 18 – May 28, 2017
Stump with saw on top
Grid of tree stumps
Tree stumps wrapped in burlap

Tree stumps
Moss on rock
Tree stump

Tree stump and fallen trees
Grid of tree stumps
Tree stump with green growth around it

Tree stump
Tree stump
Tree stump

Tree stump
Tree stump
Tree stump

Tree stump
Tree stump
Grid of tree stumps

Grid of tree stumps

“As a youngster on Cortes Island, in Canada’s Pacific Northwest, I walked daily through the woods to catch the school bus, passing by remnants of the old growth forest. These giant looming stumps, peering through the second growth trees as far as I could see, seemed an ominous presence. They remain so.

Five generations of my family have been a part of the forest industry in British Columbia from falling old growth trees and clear cutting to contributing to local sustainable harvest initiatives and environmental responsibility. My great grandfather and great uncle, in providing for their families and future, fell many of the actual trees whose remnants you now see in these photographs. It was in this familial context, filtered through the contemporary environmental crisis and thoughts of personal responsibilities in that regard, that the seeds of this series were sown.

As this project began the iconic remains of the old forest first served as a meditation on the human- altered landscape but soon evolved into a metaphor for the natural world, contemporary globalized culture and the essential incompatibility of the two. This incompatibility is evident in the forests through the historical lens of conflicting cultural and social attitudes. British Columbia’s aboriginal people harvested trees as needed by their local communities over the millennia – a truly sustainable approach reflected in the majestic forests found by the arriving Europeans. Colonists added an overriding attitude of “commodification” to activities in the forests, extracting timber for sale into the expanding global market and contributing to serious concerns about the long-term sustainability of forest ecosystems.

The cognitive dissonance arising from this dilemma of participation in, and yet responsibility for, the fouling of one’s own nest was a dominant theme guiding the creation of these photographs. This discomfort from holding conflicting beliefs or ideals, and perhaps more importantly where it leads one, remains a key motivator in my work.

Although the pattern of progress and disaster has been repeated throughout human history, the urgency I now feel in our globalized world is one of scale…a scale said to be so vast, perhaps nearing a point of no return. No doubt evolution is progressing as it should, which brings some measure of comfort, yet I cannot help but feel apprehension for the life my family will lead in the not-too-distant future.”

View the LensCulture video on “The Last Stand”.

b. 1969, Campbell River, BC, Canada
Lives and works in Victoria, Vancouver and on Cortes Island, BC, Canada.

David Ellingsen is a Canadian photographer and environmental artist creating images of site-specific installations, landscapes and object studies that speak to the natural world and Man’s impact upon it. Ellingsen acts as archivist, surrealist and storyteller as he calls attention to the contemporary state of the environment both directly and through conceptual, subversive commentary about our consumerist society. Ellingsen’s images engage questions around the transience and temporality of existence and his thematic subjects are marked by simplicity, empathy and a wounded sense of humanity’s fate.

Ellingsen began his artistic career studying the craft of photography at a trade institute, through apprenticeships and then working as a freelance editorial and advertising photographer with clients that included the New York Times Magazine, Mens Journal, CBC Radio Canada, Telus and MTV/Nickelodeon. Simultaneously, Ellingsen was exhibiting his personal artwork within public and private galleries in Canada, the USA, and Asia and appearing as a guest speaker and instructor at educational institutions in British Columbia such as the Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Langara College. Ellingsen continued this hybrid path for 12 years and then in 2013 focused fully on his artistic practice.

Ellingsen’s photographs are part of the permanent collections of the Chinese Museum of Photography and Vancouver’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum and have been shortlisted for Photolucida’s Critical Mass Book Award, awarded First Place at the Prix de la Photographie Paris and First Place at the International Photography Awards in Los Angeles.

Ellingsen lives and makes his work in Canada’s Pacific Northwest, moving between Victoria, Vancouver and the farm where he was raised on the remote island of Cortes.

CONTACT

www.davidellingsen.com david@davidellingsen.com

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Floor Plan

Amy Rindskopf's Terra Novus

At the market, I pick each one up, pulled in by the shapes as they sit together, waiting. I feel its heft in my hand, enjoy the textures of the skin or peel, and begin to look closer and closer. The patterns on each individual surface marks them as distinct. I push further still, discovering territory unseen by the casual observer, a new land. I am like a satellite orbiting a distant planet, taking the first-ever images of this newly envisioned place.

This project started as an homage to Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 (I am, ironically, allergic to peppers). As I looked for my subject matter at the market, I found that I wasn’t drawn to just one single fruit or vegetable. There were so many choices, appealing to both hand and eye. I decided to print in black and white to help make the images visually more about the shapes, and not about guessing which fruit is smoothest, which vegetable is greenest.

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Tricia Gahagan

 

Photography has been paramount in my personal path of healing from disease and

connecting with consciousness. The intention of my work is to overcome the limits of the

mind and engage the spirit. Like a Zen koan, my images are paradoxes hidden in plain

sight. They are intended to be sat with meditatively, eventually revealing greater truths

about the world and about one’s self.

 

John Chervinsky’s photography is a testament to pensive work without simple answers;

it connects by encouraging discovery and altering perspectives. I see this scholarship

as a potential to continue his legacy and evolve the boundaries of how photography can

explore the human condition.

 

Growing my artistic skill and voice as an emerging photographer is critical, I see this as

a rare opportunity to strengthen my foundation and transition towards an established

and influential future. I am thirsty to engage viewers and provide a transformative

experience through my work. I have been honing my current project and building a plan

for its complete execution. The incredible Griffin community of mentors and the

generous funds would be instrumental for its development. I deeply recognize the

hallmark moment this could be for the introduction of the work. Thank you for providing

this incredible opportunity for budding visions and artists that know they have something

greater to share with the world.

Fran Forman RSVP