Landscape Narratives: Soil samples, Austin Texas to Los Angeles California trip, by Kate Catterall in “Traces of Home”
Women & Their Work Gallery, through November 9Two rows of large glass ampoules horizontally line the gallery wall, each containing powdered earth of various shades and consistencies. On closer examination, it’s also clear that each ampoule is subtly printed with text. On the bottom row of bottles, from left to right, are written the lines of Yeats’ famous “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” a poem in which the concept of home, both spiritual and physical, is distilled. Home: the constant murmur under the thoughts of every traveler. The poem’s lines sway in a regular, lulling rhythm, not unlike the hum of the highway in an ever-moving car.
Each soil sample on the top row is labeled with the time, date, and location from which it was gathered, as well as with a description of the soil’s composition. Rather than seeming clinical, though, these ingredient lists evoke snatches of visual imagery and verbal impressions of each location, like a photographic survey or journal record of the westward journey as seen through a dusty car window. “Austin, TX: Plant fragments and other organic matter.” “Iraan, TX: Scattered manmade trash.” “Lake Mead, NV: All granular particles are highly angular.” “Los Angeles, CA: Composed almost entirely of the in situ disintegration products of gray siltstone bedrock.” Such snippets not only are suggestive of the artist’s present-time impressions of each landscape, but hint at its history, both geologic and human. And if you’ve ever driven this dry, dusty route, the images evoked will ring elusively familiar.
This article appears in Stan Knee.