In concrete isolation

Ever since my visit to Cementa at Slite on the isle of Gotland I wanted to express my experience of complete isolation that the alienated industrial landscape brought on me. Now forced into my own isolation and with sudden time on my hands, I was able to revisit my memory and notebook sketches done during this visit to create a series of large black and white watercolours. 

 

The concrete factory has been a growing structure for the last 100 years. It is made up of buildings from different times and styles, covered by chimneys and characteristically designed industrial buildings without a beginning nor an end. Every day the factory swallows herds of workers to keep the production alive. The monstrous “industry organism” appears to have a pulse on its own, timeless and disconnected from the rest of the world. It presents the dystopian landscape of the so called modern, high-tech industry.
 

The process of drawing the repetitive patterns of the landscape helped me to identify myself with my isolation and the feeling of powerlessness resulted from the current circumstances. We are being herded into following new rules of engagement with our surroundings and our bureaucratic leaders. Deprived from our usual ways of interaction we are much more fragile and easy to break than I thought. The only way to break the new mental barriers and to escape our alienation is prioritising open and honest communication. Even if it sometimes feels repetitive. 

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