ArtistTatiana Gulenkina
Untitled #2, Six Hours
Date2015
MediumChromogenic color print
DimensionsImage Size: 30 × 20 in. (76.2 × 50.8 cm)
Framed Size: 37 × 27 in. (94 × 68.6 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2015.019.1
ClassificationsPhotographs
Locations
- DM for Public Safety and Justice (1350 Penn Ave NW, 533)
Description"Six Hours" (2015-2017) is a series of multiple- and long-exposure photographs of slowly melting bodies of ice that explore the intersection of political and poetic, collective and personal. Ironically, in our constantly changing world, we often ignore the change, no matter if it’s happening in our bodies or in the environment around us. Whether viewed as meditations on color and shape or a climate change statement, these images depict the shifts that often go unnoticed.
Scientifically, the process of fast ice melting can be explained by a few chain reactions. One is darkening of the color which makes the ice sheet to attract more sunlight and melt at increasing rate. The other is the fact that as it melts, the elevation lowers, and the lower elevation often comes with warmer temperatures.
Working on this project, I was particularly inspired by historic Japanese landscape paintings called “mountains and water,” their simplicity and unique sense of perspective. Other Japanese art forms, such as haiku and Noh theater are also trying to grasp the essence of things with minimum means. The job of the artist in this case mostly consists of being an observer and gaining intuitive understanding of the subject.
