OLIVER RAYMOND BARKER | TRINITY / THE RICHEST SQUARE MILE
22-25 FEB 2024 | 12-6PM | THE OLD BREWERY | FREE
The Richest Square Mile
In the 18th century the district of Gwennap in Cornwall was regarded as one of the richest square miles of mineral deposits in the world. Using pioneering mechanical technology and a skilled workforce, huge wealth was accumulated by the Mineral Lords – however this came with a toxic legacy for the land, as well as its human and more than human inhabitants.
Fast forward to the present day and post-industrial areas of Cornwall surrounding Gwennap are amongst some of the poorest in Northern Europe whilst the land affected by the mining of the past is subject to ongoing remediation and management.
However the recent discovery of copper deposits, the upsurge in the value of tin and prospecting around critical minerals such as Lithium could precipitate a revival of extraction in Cornwall. What might this mean for the land, people and Cornwall of the future?
The Richest Square Mile is a work in progress that uses camera-less methods, archives, experimental large format processes and collaborative practices with scientists and historians - to interrogate and question the extractive systems and structures of power that allow us to profit from the Earth’s resources.
Trinity
Trinity is a journey into landscape. It explores the complex layers of narrative embedded in the fabric of the land and engages with histories of spirituality, protest and control.
The images originate from 20 x 24 inch paper negatives, exposed in a custom built ‘backpack’ camera obscura - a tent like structure designed to allow creation of large format images in remote locations. This is an anti-camera, one that does not strive for the resolution and clarity of traditional photo-mechanical devices but instead seeks to capture the essence of place whilst also providing sanctuary for the artist.
From early christian pilgrims who voyaged to remote corners of the British isles such as Rosneath during Roman times, to its current occupation as home of the UK's nuclear deterrent Trident, this remote peninsula has been the site of diverse histories.
Oliver Raymond Barker works with the mechanics and alchemy of photography to make images, objects and structures that expand upon what photography is and can be.
Working predominantly with alternative analogue techniques he uses photography as a tool to uncover imagined narratives & unseen processes, framed by his interest in culture, ecology and spirituality.
Recent exhibitions and displays include Energy: Sparks from the Collection at the V&A Museum (2023), NOUA, Norway (2022), Belfast Photo Festival (2019) & UNSEEN Photo Festival (2018). From 2014 - 2015 he was Creative Associate at the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute where he collaborated on The Natural Alchemy project.
He was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award in 2023 and in 2020 he was awarded the Grain Portfolio Award at Format Festival. His book Trinity was subsequently printed in 2021 by the publisher Loose Joints.
He has delivered talks and workshops at a range of institutions such as Tate Modern, Tate St Ives, Cove Park (Scotland), UNSEEN & YATOO (South Korea). Alongside his practice he works as Lecturer in Photography at Falmouth University.
‘This is photography deliberately against the grain of conventional practice. It is a kind of image making that paradoxically deals as much with the invisible as the visible.’
Martin Barnes / Senior Curator of Photographs, Victoria & Albert Museum
‘ Raymond Barker’s backpack obscura shelters him from storm and light at once - its own form of retreat, echoing in modern form the beehive oratories and shelters of the peregrini…’
Robert Macfarlane / Writer & Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge