I am very excited to announce that after a gestation period of about 10 years, my project Gardening For Ordnance is a featured solo exhibition by Fabrik Projects (Los Angeles), a virtual & exclusive exhibition available for a short time on Artsy.net!
Gardening for Ordnance examines how a distant war that occurred 70 years ago can still haunt an American neighborhood. The underlying issue of buried military ordnance is one that affects many similar ex-military and war sites around the world today. This work touches on society, personal anxieties, residual effects of war, aftermath of combat, memory, environmental contamination and government bureaucracy. Gardening For Ordnance juxtaposes appropriated government text and photographs structured as diptychs to illustrate the contrast between two divergent elements; the dichotomy of aloof governmental documentation against the anxiety of living on an ex-military site with its inherent dangers.
This project expands on my investigation of the passage of time and the issues of reality and memory, and the contradictions where these intersect. My subject is the former Trabuco Bombing Range, one of 9,800 Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) throughout the United States, that is located in the city of Rancho Santa Margarita and adjacent O’Neill County Park, in southern California. I am personally invested in this project because I live on this decommissioned ex-military site.
I use expired 120mm analog film as a physical representation for past experiences. The unpredictability of the expired film provides parallels to the inexactitude of memory, and the decay of the film corresponds with the decomposition of the old buried military ordnance. My photographs are intended to be objective and a straight forward viewpoint devoid of drama.
This bombing range was used to train U.S. Navy and Marine pilots during WWII and the Korean War. The photographs are juxtaposed with aseptic text from various governmental agencies and public reporting of the area’s on-going restoration.
The layered narrative is a response to a combination of current circumstances; a community that continues to be impacted by the aftermath of war, governmental agencies encrypting the facts about potential dangers, potential ecological impact of business decisions, and the transitional nature of memory over time.
Info:
Exclusive exhibition dates: March 24th – April 30th, 2020
Fabrik Projects, Los Angeles, California
Regretfully due to the COVID-19 situation, there will not be a formal exhibition opening or closing reception planned at this time. I am going to have to come up with something…
Cheers, stay healthy and safe my friends,
Doug
Featured artwork above: Dislodging Other Bombs (Gardening For Ordnance) copyright 2019 Douglas Stockdale
Artwork below: Trabuco Bombing Range (Gardening For Ordnance) copyright 2019 Douglas Stockdale
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My upcoming events, some that are in a state of flux:
Update! Medium Photo 2020 Workshop: Developing a Creative Book workshop that I will be leading, is now rescheduled for September 24 – 27th, 2020, a four-day extended weekend workshop in San Diego.
Medium Photo 2020 Lecture Series, I will be giving a one-evening lecture Artist Books as Art Objects on Friday, March 20th, from 7:30 – 9pm at the You Belong Here artist venue, located at 3619 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, California 92104. TBD
Revised closing reception is still okay as of this date…
Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP) Faculty Exhibition, in Los Angeles at the new LACP gallery, located at 566 Washington Blvd. The exhibition opens March 21st and the closing reception is Saturday, April, 18, 2020, from 7-10pm. TBD
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Singular Images 