This Is _ Land: Matt Fratson

Art Exhibition

This Is _ Land: Matt Fratson

30 April – 28 June

Artlink Hull 87 Princes Avenue Hull HU5 3QP

Monday – Saturday, 10 – 4 PM

What does migration look like in the Anthropocene?

‘This is Land’ is an on-going project exploring ‘freedom of movement’ in poetic collision with geology and land usage, as we come to terms with the effects of inhabiting what has been termed the ‘Anthropocene’ for the geological age humanity may have forced through our collective behaviours.

This exhibition brings together a selection of works which utilise a range of historical sources juxtaposed against scans, grabs, and pixelate screenshots from our familiar present-day feed of sensationalist ‘crisis’ imagery. A series of screen-printed life rafts from several museum collections act as a thread which binds the work together- symbols of migration and survival between land, in search of land.

The project asks broad questions initiated by the spaces in the title. Digital manipulations contrast historical Native American agricultural tools against tabloid half-tones of fires at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest and utilise symbols of contemporary communication apps and devices. Glossy images of unspoilt places in pre-digital ‘technicolor’ from old National Geographic magazines clash against crowds of Brexit protesters wearing EU flag masks.

As we move forward in our ‘Post-Truth’ society, the lessons of the past in how we treat the land we occupy become misshapen and deliberately fragmented like a damaged image file, and this project continues to explore those fragmented pictures of the past in the present.

Matt says: “I'm particularly excited to share this body of work which began as an extension of my practice, but has evolved into a broad collection of printmaking experiments. I'm also very thankful to Artlink for offering me this opportunity. With this work my intention has been to explore possible connections between the ways in which we consume imagery today, particularly political and sensationalist imagery, and the ways in which we continue to affect the shape and structure of landmass through a similar type of addiction to convenience. The question of how we manage our sensitivities towards migration in a world in which resources are becoming ever scarcer is also touched upon. This is a show which looks at many different aspects of the geological age of the Anthropocene and does not seek to provide answers or make opaque statements, but hopefully begins to unravel some poetic connections.”