introduction

Land Art does not depict the landscape, it engages it, Land Art is not simply about the landscape, but is in it as well.

The physical presence in the landscape itself distinguishes it from other, more portable forms of sculpture.

Land Artworks are not discrete objects, intended for isolated appraisal, but fully engaged elements of their respective environments, intended to provide experience of a certain place for both the artist and the viewer.

Gert Potgieter, a colleague of mine at Visual Skills School who lectures sculpture, introduced me to land art.
Land art is a curious visual art genre that finds itself at home with sculpture, or at least that is where the academics place land art. To me land art is much wider, so much so that the statement value at times can jump the borders of visual art to such an extend that it becomes pure philosophy.
Be it as it may, land art, to the world, exists because of photography and that is where I, as a creative photographer, step in. I do at times create/sculpture my own land art to photograph but I also recognise land art done by other artists.
The approach I, as a photographer, follow when photographing other land artists' sculptures, are based on two main considerations:
Recognising the work as land art.
Interpreting the work in my unique style to enhance the communicative values which attracts me.

I studied art at university but have been lecturing photography for the past 20 years. Since my introduction to land art, my perception and enjoyment of recognising planning and shooting land art has given me great pleasure and, of course, a much bigger platform for expression.

Me and Gert published a small guide on land art through my publishing company Razor Publishers. This is not an academic or authoritative book on land art, (I stand humble to the likes of Christo, Andy Goldsworthy our own South African land artist Strydom van der Merwe and of course many others). This book is a workbook for students like myself who wish to take up land art more seriously.

PS: Being a contemporary photographer I allow myself a little manipulation when photographing land art, this I see as an attempt to marry photography and land art as a single totality, perhaps this might be a new genre.

Land Art is interested in the Land - processes that has taken place and still takes within it, on it and around it whether natural or man-made, whether pre-historical or contemporary.

Land Art can be intended only for the moment, for a day, a month, a year or longer.

In Land Art the land can be the subject, the content, the artist, the model, the canvas, the paint, the critique, the gallery and ultimately the destroyer.