Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2021
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Photography
First Advisor
Alex Strada
Second Advisor
Steven B. Smith
Third Advisor
Jinying Li
Abstract
Fossil Morphology is a multi-media art project based on my research on the coal mining area in East Pennsylvania. It consists of a film, a series of photographs, and a sound installation. Together, the three works form a dialog among each other about the ecology and aesthetics of the region’s coal mining landscape and its underground.
For a long time, coal, as an raw material for mass production, has been understood and examined from its economic values and social meanings. The gradual abandoning of this material by our industry therefore leads to the seemingly inevitable decline of the coal mining activities, the deceleration of life in the coal town, as well as the uncultivation of environment. As a basic element of Nature, coal is re-examined and re-thought in this group of work so that it can be re-situated within the network of our eco-system, re-aligned within its inherent connection with humans, and re-oriented as a crux that sustains a pre-symbolic resonances with life.
Recommended Citation
Zhang, Leah, "Fossil morphology" (2021). Masters Theses. 698.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/698
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Comments
View exhibition online: Leah Zhang, Fossil Morphology