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January 10, 2011
Fay Godwin (1931 – 2005) was one of Britain’s well known landscape photographers. In 1985 she achieved both popular and critical success with her exhibition and accompanying book Land – a celebration of the British landscape and wilderness.
Fay Godwin, Rotting car, Cliffe Lagoon, 1982
I prefer that part of Godwin's work that was concerned with our relationship with the earth and our assaults on it, by the way British rivers and canals, shores and embankments had been messed up.
I see her less as a romantic photographer of the landscape ( ie., picturesque or mysterious views of the landscape) or a documentary photography and more as a topographer ---one who went into the landscape to interpret by means of sketches, charts, and written accounts of what they had encountered and seen.
Fay Godwin, River Aire, near Shipley, 1987.
Godwin is interested in the history of the British landscape, particularly its usage over the centuries. She explores how human action has changed the land using images of the coastline, ancient roadways and stone circles, in which she takes familiar features from the past and present inviting us to look more closely. She was critical of the 'country cult', an idealised view of rural England and its place in the national myth, given her interest in what humans do to the landscape.
The other strand of her work is the colour photography of the urbanscape of Bradford that were done around 1986/87:
Fay Godwin, Sunset, Baildon bridge, Shipley, 1987
Her colour work is less well known as she is primarily seen as a black and white photographer of the 'country cult', an idealised view of rural England and its place in the national myth. This Bradford work was later followed by a series of colour abstract images focusing on shape, texture and form in still-life setups of foliage. Godwin was unable to find a publisher for the latter project and it was eventually privately published under the title Glassworks & Secret Lives (1998).
Our Forbidden Land (1990) is an critique of the destruction of the countryside and the increasing restrictions on the right to roam. It showed how large areas of countryside were being torn up for development, how pollution was affecting rivers and forests, and the ways in which public rights of access to land was being denied by landowners.
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Landmarks is a retrospective of Goodwin's work.