Just had a great feature in Entitle Magazine.
I have been featured on the cover and feature alongside some great photographers. There is also a great write-up to accompany the work:
"The word ‘hinterland’ refers to a region removed from the urban area. These regions have for many years been an idyllic space left alone by man. Urban development has interrupted the rural landscape, pushing these areas into a state of in between. It is this space that Bland explores in his work. His images draw upon a series of thematic layers. Firstly, the rural area itself: Bland was careful to select areas that are in a stage of pre-development. Secondly he has placed emissaries of Western culture into the frame: the takeaway restaurants and convenience store. By compiling these two totems together Bland heightens our sense of the uncanny. Composing with long exposures, Bland has replicated dusk and its corresponding lighting, crafting a time when nature is at its most unrealistic.There is a sense of darkness crowding in, surrounding these small outposts of culture, glowing fireflies of refuge situated in a night that has become a thing to be survived.In his artist statement Bland points out that this series is about “the destruction of natural environments [making] room for urban sprawls.” I think this, coupled with the way in which he has composed his images, suggests that he thinks urban sprawl is something also to be survived.The time setting is similarly in a state of in between: it is neither night nor day. The introduction of urban culture through the convenience store and takeaways into this space brings with it the imposition of human law on natural chaos. In cities you tap into a 24-hour lifestyle; whole infrastructures are designed to follow that way of life. You will find none of this in the hinterland. In this area nature retains control."
Andrea Allan - Curator
Thanks to all at Entitle Magazine.
