Gwen Walstrand: Near & There - SRISA Project Space

About

"The sublime response is described as an agreeable kind of terror related to awe and often encountered in nature. Using visual elements that provoke the sublime, I wish to connect very contemporary issues related to climate change and potential globe collapse. This is new work in progress but my attempt is making images that pose questions about the experience of the sublime emotions in the natural world turned toward the notion of climate change catastrophes. Blending 17th and 18th century concepts of the sublime with 21st century environmental issues, there seems a new opportunity to explore landscape to evoke aesthetic and emotional responses related to the specific issues humans have created. Burke proposes, "experiencing otherwise terrifying phenomena from a position of safety can elicit 'a sort of delightful hours, a sort of tranquillity tinged with terror; which as it belongs to self-preservation, is one of the strongest of all passions"* Burje's assertions were trues his day, but never more than now when our tranquillity and self-preservation in the face of potential collapse create another kind of horror."