Iris Erwin

ARTIST STATEMENT

Displayed here are a series of darkroom prints from a larger project entitled Dislocate, which explores the body both in likeness and in contrast to the surrounding landscape through physical contortions and emulations of natural forms. Though I began to take pictures around the farmland, I was continually attracted to the ‘forest,’ a plot of land surrounded by pastures intended for conifer cultivation. The uniform rows of Sitka spruce trees were occasionally disrupted by pockets of light in which decaying Irish tree species lay covered in moss or swallowed up by the stream. My collaborators were directed to engage with the landscape to create forms likened to their naturally unnatural surroundings, but to do so in ways that were physically challenging or uncomfortable. Over a period of three months, we spent many afternoons trekking across the land in search of a scene; I was often just as cold, wet, and covered in dirt as the person in front of the camera. As the days went by, each person became more willing to attempt my seemingly impossible directions. Though I provided a starting point for them, the ending shot always captured their motioned struggle to withstand, but determination to persevere. As they entangled themselves together for warmth, winced over bramble scrapes, and recoiled over wet socks, they showed me forms I couldn’t have found on my own.

BIO

Iris Erwin (they/she) is a lens-based artist working primarily in analog photography, printmaking, and bookmaking. They are a junior at NYU Gallatin developing a concentration in Photography and Visual Art as Communal Practice. Her most recent projects were developed and produced at Cowhouse Studios, an art space in Ireland. Erwin’s work explores the natural and performative interactions between people and the landscape as well as the potential for collaboration and interaction between photographer and those in front of the camera.