Influencing the Landscape
When I was in Cambridge, landscape photographer Alex Maclean was kind enough to take some time out and chat about his work and explore the concept that there is a relationship between scarring and tattooing the body and scarring and tattooing the earth. We ended up getting waylaid by trying to define what differentiates an earth scar from an earth tattoo? We decided that when speaking about the earth, one is permanent, and one is not. I’ll let you guess which is which. Meanwhile…a few of Alex’s photographs 
Scaring and Tattooing the landscape
I was completely enamored with Virginia. The gentleness of warm summer nights. The sense of abundance that comes when every alley way, backyard, and side road is bursting with some green thing. The land is rich and fertile, and at moments I feared if I stayed too long in one spot, the Kudzu and Virginia Creeper would grow right over me. I was also more than impressed by how much the city is growing; the downtown transformed from abandoned and desolate to booming and busy. My favorite comment was made by a friend while walking down Broad Street during the art walk. “There are even white people on the street.” Yes, things are changing in downtown RVA. Meanwhile, I had a few opportunities to explore some tattooing and scarring of the landscape. A trip to Maymont, one of my favorite parks on the planet, 
provided an opportunity for the first exploration of this concept. 
I got a kick out of how this picturesque view had an additional point of view.
I fell in love with this tree the second I saw it, but then a closer look proved that it would be the prefect way to initiate the discussion about scarring of the earth. 
