Grace 1
Jiang Pengyi
蒋鹏奕
Production date
2014
Object Detail
Media
inkjet print
Measurements
160 x 227 cm
Notes
The dramatic scale of Jiang Pengyi’s sombre black and white prints recalls nineteenth century depictions of sublime vistas. Crags and cliffs emerge from mysterious obscurity, creating an effect of painterly chiaroscuro, enshrouded with mist. With plunging waterfalls like white incisions in the dark landscape, they also recall the American photographer Ansel Adams’ images of the wilderness of Yosemite National Park. Grace 1 (2014), almost two and a half metres wide, might seem a reference to the Romantic sublime, were it not so forbidding and bleak. This is an unwelcoming, scarred volcanic landscape that repels human intrusion, and implicitly challenges the impact of humanity on the planet. Grace, ironically titled, is a wake-up call at the end of the Anthropocene, while Trace reminds us of what we have lost.
Accession number
2016.184