EUQINOM Gallery is pleased to present Eric William Carroll’s Field Recordings, a new body of cyanotype works while familiarizing himself with a new landscape, addressing climate anxiety, and revisiting his previous bodies of work (Blue Line of Woods and Plato’s Home Movies) with fresh eyes. Born out of creek restoration and erosion control following a 100-year flood event from Tropical Depression Fred, this new work focuses on revisiting specific species of plants growing in and around his home in Asheville, North Carolina.
Each piece is a unique cyanotype based on a modular format using 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches panels. The images are created by placing light-sensitive paper in close proximity to the subject and exposing it to direct sunlight for anywhere between 10-30 minutes. The prints are then processed in a geodesic dome near Canie Creek, which supplies the necessary water for washing the prints.
The resulting images are the visual equivalent of a field recording; abstract yet documentary, ephemeral yet firmly rooted in a specific time and place. The longer exposures imbue each work with a certain softness that is contrasted by the grid arrangement, which references Robert Smithson’s “Mirror Displacements” and Henry Fox Talbot’s process for making multiples. Carroll’s goal for this series is to create ongoing portraits of these particular plants that he interacts with daily--a visual way to measure and record life and its inevitable end.
Eric William Carroll’s work has been shown widely and has been included in exhibitions at the New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; Aperture Foundation; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco, CA; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN among others. Carroll has participated in residencies with the MacDowell Colony, Rayko Photo Center and the Blacklock Nature Sanctuary, and was awarded the 2012 Baum Award for Emerging Photographers. Born and raised in the Midwest, Carroll is currently based in Asheville, North Carolina.