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Heather
Ackroyd and Dan Harvey
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![](../../images_genetics_culture/gc_wk_02_acroyd_harvey/sunbathers-lo-res.jpg) |
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Artist
statment from Paradise Now Exhibition:
We
are exploring the capacity of grass to record complex photographic
images through the production of chlorophyll. The equivalent of
the tonal range in a black-and-white photograph is produced in the
yellow and green shades of living grass. Although these organic
"photographs" are exhibited in a fresh state for a short
time, excessive light or lack of it eventually corrupts the visibility
of the image. (continued below)
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Sunbathers,
2000
Photosynthetic
"photograph" on grass
dimensions variable |
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Our inquiry into how to "fix" these transient images has
brought us close involvement with genetics through research with scientists
at IGER (Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research) in Wales.
These scientists have developed a grass that keeps its green color
even under stress. In a naturally occurring variant of grass, they
identified a gene for an enzyme that degrades the green pigment chlorophyll,
and by modulating the expression of this gene, they were able to alter
the grassís aging behavior and even stop it altogether. Through
a plant breeding program they have introduced this trait, coined a
stay-green, into a rye grass. The application of this grass in our
work has subsequently led us to grow photographic canvases and then
dry them. While the green blades retain their chlorophyll much more
effectively than regular grass, the effects of other processes, such
as oxidative bleaching, gradually occur and over time contribute to
an irreversible loss of image.
The artistsí participation in this exhibition is made possible
by the support of NESTA (National Endowment of Science, Technology
and Art, UK). |
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Source:
http://www.geneart.org/ackroyd2.htm |
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Heather Ackroyd
and Dan Harvey have collaborated since 1990. "After observing the
pale outline created by a ladder left on a lawn for a few days, the duo
decided to make sod into a photographic medium."[7]
Heather Ackroyd's
has worked in sculpture, visual and performance art. Multidisciplinary
work with focus on processes of growth and transformation, striving to
articulate a relationship between performance and visual art.[1] Dan Harvey
has worked primarily in sculpture since 1980 and often uses found objects
where the effects of nature can be seen. He places these within "intimate
tableaux of implied narratives to do with transience, alchemy and decay.
" Slate is a principle material in much of his work. The scale moves
from very small intimate pieces to large landscape designs.[1]
Their collaborative
work includes installation, sculpture, landscape design, photography,
performance, film and frequently reflects both architectural and scientific
concerns. Another conceptual focus is time and visibility.[4]
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"In
the greater body of our artwork we play with many materials exploring
processes of growth, transformation and decay, and we embrace the transience
and ephemeral nature of our materials. Yet somehow the fragility of
these chlorophyll apparitions urged us to make moves to preserve them
longer."
"We can't recall the precise moment when we first articulated this
desire to hold the image - conceptually, we can rationalise the move
to preserve the photographic grass image for longer by saying it follows
through the established process of photography of exposing, developing
and then fixing the image."
"To talk about 'fixing' an image refers directly to the photographic
process of stabilising the emergent picture. It is a word used as much
now, as nearly 200 years ago, by the early pioneers of photography such
as, Thomas Wedgewood, Humphrey Davy, Fox Talbot, the Niepce brothers,
Daguerre, and Bayard, to name but a few. "
Extracts
from a lecture delivered by the artists through The Royal Society in
conjunction with the Creating Sparks Festival, September 2001 http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/artists/ah/photosynthesistext.html#Living%20Skins
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Scientific
Collaboration and Technique of Photosynthetic Works
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- The photosensitive
surface is a living mini-lawn
- It is
placed in a giant darkroom
- The mini-lawn
is exposed light of a 400-W projector bulb passing through a negative
for prolonged periods
- The varying
densities of the negative's lighter and darker areas produce a full
range of midtones by controlling the light levels in each area.
- The light
produces green, or darker tones, lack of light produces lighter (yellow)
tones
- In 1997,
the artists began a collaboration with IGER scientists, Prof Howard
Thomas and Dr Helen Ougham, who are studying the biochemistry behind
how chlorophyll breaks down when leaves start to age and turn yellow.
(IGER = Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth,UK).
This process has both an economic and cultural significance as it is
resonsible for the making crops less productive and for the colors seen
at the changing of the seasons. [5]
- They
are collaborating on the further development of a stay-green variety
of grass that had been known since the 1960s.
- The scientists
have modified the expression of the genes responsible for the senescence
of the green leaves, resisting the tendency to yellow.
- The application
of this grass in the artist's work has significantly retained the visibility
of the image and in response to their collaboration the scientists have
developed methods for non-invasive analysis of events going on in the
cells of senescing leaf tissue, through the use of hyper-spectral imaging
technology. [4].
- This is
an example of a collaboration where the artists are changing the way
the scientists work. A recent quote:
We
were all dumbstruck when we saw it such colors and textures,
says Helen Ougham, a biochemist at IGER. Were not used
to looking at grass growing, like they do, on a canvas. We started
thinking about what images can tell us.
Usually researchers grind plants up and
extract pigments in order to study them. But they lose all of the
variations in the plant, both over time and over the surface of
the leaves, and destroy the plants in the process.
Inspired by Ackroyd and Harveys work,
the Wales team developed a new imaging technique that monitors pigment
levels without damaging plants. Still in the developmental stages,
the technique could some day be used to quickly scan plants and
learn about their health.
We wouldnt be doing what were
doing now if it werent for [Ackroyd and Harvey], says
Ougham.[5]
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http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/artists/ah/photosynthesistext.html#Living%20Skins |
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![](../../images_genetics_culture/gc_wk_02_acroyd_harvey/testament.jpeg) |
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Photosynthesis
(Testament)
1998
8m x 8m
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Photo:
the artists
Commissioned
by Year of the Photo 98 and Hull Time Based Arts and grown in situ
in a disused Salvation Army Citadel, Hull
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Taking
the intimacy of the portrait and magnifying it to a monumental scale,
bears witness to the passing of time. Imprinted within the thousands
of blades of growing grass, the face became a living landscape. The
image emerged as the blades of grass matured into a vibrant state
and then slowly faded as the grass died over the course of the exhibition.[6] |
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![](/genetics_culture/images_genetics_culture/shared_images/black_gif_1px.gif) |
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![](../../images_genetics_culture/gc_wk_02_acroyd_harvey/tigergrasscoat.jpeg) |
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Tiger
Grass Coat
1991
Photo:
the artists
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The
Grass Coat was first displayed on the catwalk at the London Hippodrome
as part of the Lynx Anti-Fur campaign, re-grown for an environmental
fashion show in Dublin, 1995, and most recently displayed at Sotheby's,
London, as part of the Outmoded Decorative Arts exhibition, 2001.
Working
on the principle of denying light to areas of growing grass, the
tiger striped effect was achieved by a stencilling method. Where
the light fell, the grass produced chlorophyll, where it remained
in shade it stayed a bright yellow colour.[6]
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![](/genetics_culture/images_genetics_culture/shared_images/black_gif_1px.gif)
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![](../../images_genetics_culture/gc_wk_02_acroyd_harvey/tigerscoat.jpeg) |
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Tiger
Skin
400cm x 300cm
Photo:
the artists
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Presented
by the Serpentine Gallery for Heatwave 2
Stripes imprinted through process of stencilling. The living grass
skin was stretched taut and suspended.[6] |
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![](/genetics_culture/images_genetics_culture/shared_images/black_gif_1px.gif) |
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![](../../images_genetics_culture/gc_wk_02_acroyd_harvey/appsHyper_mochld.gif) |
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Mother
and Child
4 x
6-ft
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The
original 4 x 6-ft photograph of Mother and Child consists of neither
computer pixels nor grains of silver halide, but blades of a new grass
variety created with the help of hyperspectral imaging. © Heather
Ackroyd and Dan Harvey/Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1998.[7] |
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![](/genetics_culture/images_genetics_culture/shared_images/black_gif_1px.gif) |
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