Gallery 2022  Thin Places

For millennia, ancient sacred sites and times have existed where the veil is believed to be thinnest between the earthly and otherworldly.  The Celts used the term 'caol áit', commonly translated as 'thin place'.

 

Using research, fieldwork and discourse I am exploring our sensory responses to these intangible, 'thin places'. Through conceptual art and cameraless alternative photography, I incorporate the direct essence of nature: light, soil, water, plants, weather and time.

 

Perhaps if we quietly pause and connect, 'thin places' can provide a renewed sense of wonder at our own place within the natural world. Unlike some, I haven't found it easy to find 'thin places', but I know it when I find them.

 

Here are a few descriptions I've collected from people who were kind enough to describe how they've felt in a 'thin place': "comfort", "heavy peace", "stepping onto another reality", "dilutes who you are",  "being in the right place ", "contentment", "feeling of calm", "being part of something else",  "felt energised", feeling of calmness, freedom", timeless, out of time",  Of course, for some it is simply a case of "I don't believe in that sort of thing." I didn't until I first experienced it at a spot on Stanton Moor in the Peak District.

 

Gallery, for full images please click once (or twice - it can be temperamental)

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