In the cycle of works called Spiral Lands, Andrea Geyer investigates the role
of photography in the colonization and continuous appropriation of the
North American continent, using the American Southwest (now Arizona, New
Mexico, Utah and Colorado) as an example. Not stopping with the past, but working up through the present moment, Geyer looks critically at records,
documents, stories, drawings, and photography that construct the complex
history of North America and the identity of its people.
Chapter 2 of Spiral Lands consists of a slide projection with the voice-over
of a lecture. This form engages the role of "the scholar" or "the
researcher" who for 150 years has fostered an ongoing fascination with this
particular part of North America. Every summer hundreds of anthropologists,
ethnographers, artists and photographers travel to the Southwest to conduct
their investigations into the land and local culture. Looking closer at the
outcome of such investigations one could say that in these writings of
histories and identities, it is not their subject but rather the
researchers/ethnographers themselves, who — like the protagonist in fiction
— hold center stage. In Geyer’s installation the lecturer is represented by
a voice over, critically asking herself what drives the desire for this land
and what enables the feeling of a right of passage. Oscillating between the
imperative and the persuasive, the voice does not stop within the boundaries
of scientific observation but engages the artist/viewer in their
contemplation, asking what their gaze desires, longs for and projects.
Addressing the western concept of “landscape” Geyer is pointing to the fact
that visualization is and has always been a sophisticated ideological
device, revealing as much of what stands behind the camera as what is found
in front. The lecture, much like the text in Chapter 1, is a combination of
many different voices, native and non-native. Again, a pamphlet with
footnotes is available for the viewer to take. The slides projected show
images of Chaco Canyon, a National Historic Site in what is now called New
Mexico, photographed by Geyer in February 2008.
detailed view of B&W frame
detailed view of color frame
view:
Clip 1 |
Clip 2 |
Clip 3 |
Clip 4 |
Clip 5
