Strip Mine, Spoil Piles, and Intersected Water Table Possibly 1985 - 2010

David Hanson made this photograph called 'Strip Mine, Spoil Piles, and Intersected Water Table' and what gets me right away is the artist’s position above the scene. It is almost like an architect's rendering. I start to think, what was he looking for? He has chosen to reveal something about the relationship between land and human intervention. I feel his cool critical eye, like a scientist looking at a slide under a microscope. The scene becomes abstracted by the photographic medium. He must have considered how to flatten the earth into a pattern of lines, shapes, and forms. The light reflecting off the water is like a gestural stroke, a slash of paint which animates the scene, bringing light into the darker corners. The tones are muted, desaturated and earthy. It reminds me of the work of the New Topographics photographers who also made work about the changed landscape. Artists learn from each other. Photography allows a particular kind of flattening which reveals the world around us. It asks us to reflect on our role within it.