Land Lines has been co-curated by independent curator Amanda Game and photographer Paul Hart. Paul Hart’s own meticulously observed images of the manmade world of farmed fenlands appeared at Fen Ditton Gallery for the first time last autumn (Trees Observed) and it seemed timely to show a further series of images one year on, in the context of other photographers whose works he knows and admires. The other two invited artists, are the late great British land photographer Fay Godwin and Paul’s American contemporary Mark Steinmetz – showing for the first time in the UK.
Common ground between the three artists seems clear: all make black and white images of landscapes – devoid of people but rich in traces of human activity – rail lines; abandoned buildings; domesticated animals; furrows, fences, ditches and tracks. Poetic images are wrestled by long hours composing and longer hours printing images that reveal the shifting lines and patterns of human life.