Introduction - Among the pines

Hi, I’m Oliver Martin, a visual artist and photographer from the UK. Over the course of these posts, I will share aspects of my process and research behind Among the Pines, work made in Catalunya, Spain. I’ll end with a few examples from another project, Humans on the Marshes, that looks at similar themes of identity and the human relationship with the land. I have a strong memory of finding a wasteland as a child. It was a natural environment with trees, bushes, and wildlife, but growing wild, unlike the trimmed and ordered ‘natural environment’ of the parks I was used to. It was messy and chaotic, with objects scattered all around. I saw little paths leading through the space and off into the woods. I felt a deep connection and unending curiosity; I always asked my father to take me back. The places in Among the pines brought up feelings of an unknown past and future. Sites of past ritualisation and connecting humans with nature, that are now occupied by teenagers exploring and finding their own form of ritual.