Thursday 4 June 2009

Then and now

It’s a bit disingenuous to talk about first impressions here – I’ve visited Chirk a number of times, wandered around the grounds, had the proper experience of the house and the garden. I live locally; it’s a familiar place to me. The challenge with this project (and the thrill, the excitement of it) is to look a bit deeper, a bit longer, a bit wider, or a bit more askance at this place; to take it all in and get under its skin.

It’s a beautiful place, perched high up, overlooking the surrounding area. The place is full of history. But I don’t want this project to be all about history, about the past. When I look through the images of Chirk (on the NT website, or the postcards in the shop) they are all about the things that direct us to the past – the castle, the gates, the preserved rooms, the elaborate topiary. All are presented in perfection, in the absence of humans, of any indications of the present. Of course I can understand that you might not want a distracting presence when you’re trying to illustrate a place, but does it say something – about preservation, appearance, what should and should not be shown? People are everywhere at Chirk, especially now as the main season begins. The place is alive, with people working and people at leisure, and it’s all happening now, at this moment.

So that’s one thing I want to explore – the ‘now’ of the place, as well as the ‘then’; the present as it juxtaposes, collides and intermingles with the past.

http://www.chirk.com/castle.html

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