KEN MARSDEN (Phd Fine Art)

Title of Research:-

The Boundary: Photographic Investigations of Aesthetics and Contradiction in the Cultural Landscape of the New Forest National Park

The central purpose of my research will be to identify, chart and explore the interaction between geography, metaphor, concept, identity and space, as seen from and along, the New Forest National Park (NFNP) boundary.

I am examining the interaction that exists between nature and aesthetics and seek to challenge some of the commonly held stereotypical perceptions of what is portrayed as ‘picturesque’. These perceptions have been shaped by the European painting tradition since the Renaissance and regularly re-enforced by decisions made by political and/or bureaucratic committees. My research will expose how and to what extent these notions and perceptions have been, and continue to be, subverted by the positioning of the NFNP boundary.

 

 

Further, the intellectual territory surrounding the position that landscape photography occupies and its increasing relevance within international contemporary art are essential adjuncts to my research. Currently the issues and debates include:-

• (i) the role of landscape and identity / metaphor;
• (ii) the tensions between sentiment (romanticism) and realism;
• (iii) subjective expression versus objective ‘truth’;
• (iv) landscape for pleasure (contemplation, health) versus landscape for profit (housing, tourism).

This important part of my research will locate and contextualise the relationship between landscape and geography specifically concerning the visualisation of space and the picturing of place.

 

Recent Work

• 2006
  Co- produced interdisciplinary website www.theboundaryproject.com (University funded research project)
• 2005
  The Boundary: Cross Current Themes in the Rural and Urban Landscape (Co-presentation at Southampton Solent University)