cottonopolis

This engraving entitled cottonopolis by Edward Goodall is one of my favorite depictions of the industrial landscape. It captures perfectly the monumental change, both to society and the landscape, that was the industrial revolution.

Despite being made in the romantic period and of a genre still synonymous with that movement Goodall's image stands out to me as unique. Although it evokes feelings of the sublime with its mixture of the beautiful and grotesque it is the power of technology that is the spectacle not that of nature.

This raises the question as to who the work is intended for. Landscape painting up to and within this era had always been associated with the upper class. depictions of an individual in their land or of the boundary's around it, symbols of the division between themselves and the lower classes. cottonopolis carries none of these signifiers, instead we find in the center of the image the city. both a creation and a creator of a new class in Britain. This piece it seems is aimed at the middle classes, the rich but landless children of the industrial revolution.

How then has this image influenced my own work? firstly I have always been interested in this dialectic between nature and technology that has been played out through the romantic landscape painters. secondly the use and control of land is something that influences most photographers whether it is part of their subject matter or merely a formality which must be overcome when working.