Hind Land is a collaboration between photographers Nick Rochowski and Tim Bowditch, surveying the pedestrian walkways beneath London’s Orbital M25 motorway.
Since it’s completion 25 years ago the M25 has dramatically changed the landscape of the surrounding area and come to define the boundary of the city.
Utilising online mapping tools to locate points at which one can pass underneath the 188.3km structure by foot, they are fascinated by the voids left by the motorway as it carves through the landscape. The road divides the countryside in two, leaving a visible and audible rip in the environment above the ground, and a no-man's land beneath.
Together they survey these voids at night, using an Achromatic Digital Back capable of creating wide spectrum black and white images. This kind of technology is often used for aerial topographic studies, as it is able to record the visible as well as the infrared and ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. By photographing at night with long exposures they give the camera a completely blank canvas, devoid of contrast. Due to the way light is recorded with such technology, hidden details become apparent and the landscape appears almost lunar in quality.
The work is presented large scale that adapts to different sites, using print or projection as a final medium. As part of an installation, the project is presented with an immersive sound recording made by the artist Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau who has collaborated throughout.
Hind Land Map is a collaborative project between artists Alison Moffett, Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau, Nick Rochowski and Tim Bowdtich.
RELEASED MARCH 8TH 2013
Drawing by Alison Moffett
Essay and sound by Matthew de Kersaint Giraudeau
Photography and reference text by Nick Rochowski & Tim Bowditch
A1 folded map, double sided
1 drawing, 1 photo, essay, reference text and link to sound
Lithographic duotone print on Cyclus Offset 115gsm recycled paper
210mm x 120mm
ISBN 978-0-9569857-2-9
Printed and finished in the UK by Aldgate Press
Published March 2013
Edition of 300
Synopsis
Hind Land is a visual and audio survey of a hidden, contrasting environment beneath London's orbital M25. Restricted to access voids which are only accessible via foot, a structured working process was developed and recorded in order to carry out the first stages of the project. The publication brings together four artists who travelled and wandered surfaces, collecting information first hand and also from the resulting works themselves. The effecting layers of space, texture and scale are experienced, recorded and visualised through different mediums, presented here within a formal OS map layout.
