1,7 cm p.a.

Abstract: This project explores Continental Drift, the movement of tectonic plates, and its poetic significance. It highlights the insignificance of humanity in the face of natural forces and uses photography to make this movement visible. The artist traveled to Iceland to create installations accentuating the drift, symbolized by yellow ribbons bridging cracks in the Earth. The project conveys the message that humans cannot control everything; nature has its own pace.

1,7 cm p.a.The Title refers to what is called the Continental Drift: the movement of the tectonic plates on our planet, which causes the continents to shift. This phenomenon is of poetic importance to me, because it shows that even the steady ground below our feet is not static, but subject to forces too vast for us to fathom. As I was working on this project, I felt how small humanity is in the face of these natural processes. It is part of the power of photography to make this largely invisible movement visible, and indeed the results can strike the viewer with unexpected force.
I travelled to Iceland, to places where the Drift becomes visible, and made installations there that accentuate this movement. These installations include demarcations of the breaking lines with yellow ribbon, in some cases literally bridging the cracks in the planet.
The point of my project, however, is not to emphasise our insignificance or induce hopelessness. The Continental Drift is beautiful; it is a precondition of the existence of life as we know it. And finally, changes can have positive effects. As Ernst Bloch said: “the important thing is learning to hope.”