Subject
Landscape - British
Description
'The Silent Land' documents a Forestry Commission plantation managed for timber and recreational use, which grows on the remains of ancient lead works on the Mendip Hills in Somerset. This is where a man chose to end his life in 2016. Affected by this tragic event in a place he knew intimately, Jesse Alexander used the memorializing act of photography to explore the elegiac potential of the forest, quietly observing the seasonal changes and their cycles. It invites questions around the paradox of outdoor, ‘natural’ spaces – how these provide well documented benefits for health and wellbeing, but are often infused with pathos and melancholy, and are frequently the destination of choice for those seeking to end their lives.
The series is accompanied by a text by Jacky Bowring PhD, Professor of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University, New Zealand, and author of 'A Field Guide to Melancholy' (2008) and 'Melancholy and the Landscape: Locating Sadness, Memory and Reflection in the Landscape' (2017).
