Untitled (Marshall Fire Aftermath #094853) copyright 2022 Douglas Stockdale –
Two years ago communities in Boulder County, Colorado, experienced an end of the year event in 2021 that is becoming eerily too common; severe drought coupled with hurricane-force winds and one spark too many. Lasting two days over 1,100+ homes and business were totally destroyed. The resulting intense fire-storm left nothing but concrete foundations for most of the impacted homes.
We arrived had four months afterwards for a wedding event and unknowingly selected a hotel that was situated on the edge of this dystopian urban landscape. The first clues were the brunt shrubs and singed bushes adjacent to the hotel entrance. We had heard of this fire-disaster and I had thought I might want to investigate as a potential environmental series on climate change. Now we found ourselves at the very border of this hell-scape.
While reflecting on what project I might want to investigate in 2024, I was thinking that as a working scientist, the ongoing issues of climate change and global warming were prime subjects that needed urgent attention. Then I recalled that I had not really worked very much on this body of work I made following the Marshall Fire. This could be an intriguing Aftermath project about global warming and representative of the various urban firestorms that are becoming a regular occurrence.
This series is meant to be a more objective examination of the results of the intense Marshall firestorm, as only the acid smell of ashes and soot still lingered.
Interesting for me is that after a year of only printing cyanotype prints, that this could be a black & white series printed with pigment ink. One of the comments that I had received for my 2023 Critical Mass Finalist project (Entanglement) was why did I print this project as cyanotypes? Thus, while contemplating this project, I did a quick exercise as how to develop this series and why? Cyanotypes, color pigment prints or use black & white? Cyanotypes could be related to a melancholy blue memories of this event, while I could not think of much else that was relevant. Color images are very factual oriented and a ‘realistic’ photo-documentary style that detailed what had occurred. Last year I had inverted some color images as a what-if that were more abstract and less factual appearing, while I might want to reconsider this treatment. Another approach was converting all my digital images to black & white versions, which could be more graphic and potentially more abstract as a symbolic representation of all urban firestorm events.
It was the later that resonated the most with me and while in early development of the images, I also realized the potential to make panoramic images (1:2 ratio). My first 22 x 44″ pigment print (on a 24 x 46″ sheet) appeared to confirm my concept for size and as black & white.
Over the holidays I completed my first take on this series which resulted in 65 images, which after some difficult editing, I have reduced this to 40 images (the others now in the back parking lot for later reconsideration). At the moment I have only a loose working title and a bare-bones artist statement, but enough to allow this series to ‘cook and simmer’ while I work on my other projects.
As an environmental project, the Marshall Fire is a past event, yet still probably a current nightmare for those in Boulder County who were impacted and I suspect that this New Year’s Day will probably be difficult. I don’t think there is a huge urgency in starting to find exhibition or publication venues, nevertheless, a series I want to continue developing in 2024.
Make every day an Earth Day
Doug
Btw, take note of the update on my Book Workshop in January with SEC4P: only one spot left. This workshop sells out every time…just saying if you are interested in a developing a book as a part of your New Year’s resolution!
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Book development workshop:
Update: Only one spot still available!: Developing a Creative Photo Book, on Zoom with SouthEast Center for Photography (SEC4P), January 20 & 21st and 27th, & 28th, 2024, from 10 AM – 1 PM, Eastern Standard Time (EST).
Book Making with Douglas Stockdale, on Zoom with Medium Photo, March 16-17 & 23-24th (4 sessions, two consecutive weekends), 2024, from 9am-12pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Artist book available:
The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, 2022, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com
Singular Images 