Topography IS Fate—North African BattleFields of World War II
Photographs by Matthew Arnold
April 6 - 28, 2018
First Friday Opening Reception April 6th, 6-10PM
Gravy Studio & Gallery is proud to present Topography Is Fate, an exhibition of photographs by artist Matthew Arnold. This body of work considers the varied landscapes of North Africa that the soldier of World War II was forced to endure. Thousands of miles from home, largely untraveled and ignorant of lands and peoples outside his home country, he was dropped onto the shores of what must have seemed to him a dangerous and alien environment—his understanding of the land limited to stereotype, myth and the relevant army field manual.
The approach to this project is conceptual, with the photographs of the North African battlefields presented, similar to the New Topographic photographers, in an almost anonymous and neutral tone. The images are taken in daylight, without complexity and noise, portraying a peaceful quietness of the desert or grassland to allow viewers to fill in that negative space with their own visualization of the war.
Opening, Friday April 6, 2018.
