Maps, borders, and lines of latitude and longitude are human constructions created to give us a sense of understanding, ownership and control over the landscape. However, when we enter the landscape these lines of demarcation and navigation lose their meaning.
‘Double light’ by artist Emma Hamilton seeks to materialise this notion of visual navigation based on lived experience in the landscape. In visual navigation we find our way through the relative position of landmarks, relying on the overlap of mountains, islands and houses in our lines of sight to locate our position.
For her solo exhibition at the Dolls House, Hamilton has created a double exposure photograph in the island landscape of Fleinvær Norway, the location where she was first introduced to the idea of navigating through sight lines. Here we are at once located and dislocated: placed into an unfamiliar landscape with two horizon lines to guide us.
This work continues Hamilton’s ongoing investigations into photography’s ability to make space, crossing the boundaries between object and image. She is interested in working at the intersection of sculpture and photography, by bringing photography into sculptural space as well as placing sculptural objects into the space of the photograph. Her work probes the disparities between the observed and the recorded: the camera’s view comparative to our experiential, visual observations.
