With two exhibitions taking place simultaneously in East End galleries, Darren Almond is an artist very much in demand. Fire Under Snow the larger of the two exhibitions held at the swanky Parasol Unit, is a political and emotionally engaging journey through China, Tibet and Indonesia and testament to why Almond is man of the moment.
The exhibition comprises of two video installations, a series of photographs and a sculpture. In these pieces Almond explores themes of the passage of time time, human impact on the environment and travel.
The video installation ‘In The Between’ juxtaposes footage of a train speeding from China to Tibet shot in stunning HD with images and audio of Tibetan monks meditating. The images of the train represent China’s penetration of Tibet. The unceasing movement of the train has an almost hypnotic effect but also contains a menacing element as it hints at the increasing force of industrialisation which threatens the simple, gently paced more spiritual way of life favoured by the monks.
Almond was clearly influenced by the political situation in Tibet. He took the title of the exhibition, Fire Under Snow, from a book written by a Tibetan political prisoner who was subjected to horrific torture by the Chinese. A recurring theme in the work is the way in which human interventions and political tensions run under and affect the landscape. This idea is visually realised in his series of photographs depicting a dead waste land of gnarled tree stumps destroyed by nickel mining and sulphurous smoke.
The stand-out piece of the exhibition in terms of emotional impact is the video installation ‘Bearing’. Following the progress of Indonesian sulphur mine workers, it depicts the backbreaking routines of miners extracting and transporting sulphur in a terrain which has been described as ‘hell on earth’. Yet despite being a hellish toxic environment, the sulphur mine has a strange beauty. The golden sulphur is shrouded in thick clouds of smoke giving the images an otherworldly effect reminiscent of sci-fi lunar landscapes.
The camera claustrophobically focuses in extreme close up of a miner carrying a backbreaking load of sulphur up a sheer rock-face. His suffering is patent and it makes for uncomfortable viewing, the relief when he reaches the top is tempered by the awareness that he will have to turn round and repeat the process. It is an affecting image of human exploitation, yet Almond claims that there is a positive message to be found in the piece ‘you’re confronted by the strength of humanity, seeing how these people survive’.
Although there are strong messages about human degradation of the environment and also political degradation in countries such as Tibet running through the exhibition, this is balanced by images of startling aesthetic beauty. One is left feeling like one has been on a journey, physically exhausted but with the exciting sense of discovering something new.
Fire Under Snow runs at Parasol Unit, London, until 18 March.
