Flora & Fauna
In these two long panoramas, Lorraine Gilbert digitally reconstructs two very different ecosystems. Both areas are familiar to the artist. One is a field in the heart of Ottawa, the other a boreal forest, near La Macaza, Québec. In each locale, she has gathered specimens scanned individual plants and digitally combined her images to create a natural environment that is both real and fictive. The background images, with their deeper depiction of space, set the stage.The smaller plants which appear in a shallow space, are revealed in vivid detail. Although the images are recreations of natural settings, Gilbert retains elements that reference the photograph as a construction. Due to the scanning, the plants appear slightly flattened and lit with a sharper light. The theme of time is also addressed in the work. The panorama itself a photographic artifice, emphasizes temporality because it takes longer to experience this format in its entirety, In addition, in the boreal image, Gilbert recreates natural time - plants are presented in various stages of their life cycle from left to right. As the series title indicates, these images tell a tale, of nature, humans, photography and art and of our relationship to the natural environment, and our responsibility to it.
Andrea Kunard
Installation Boreal Forest Floor, La Macaza, Quebec, Pigment inks on Canvas, 60in X 16.5 feet