Marc Wilson
Biography
Marc Wilson embraces familiar locations - often raw natural landscapes - that we are somehow drawn to. Whether it is Snowdonia in Wales, the old West Pier in Brighton or the Swiss Alps, Wilson explores what is so endearing about these recognizable sights. Is it the absence of human form, or the physical trace of human intervention? Wilson’s work allows the viewer to understand the vastness of the landscape and its natural power.
The journey to the bodies of work seen here has evolved through projects Wilson has developed over the last ten years, and has led to his continuing exploration of the landscapes that surround us. A common theme that seems to run through these landscapes is their abandonment by man, yet their ability to retain their beauty.
His most recent project, which he started in the summer of 2010 and hopes to finish around mid-2012, is The Last Stand, which aims to document the physical remnants of war in the 20th century in the UK and Northern Europe. By photographing remaining man-made military defence structures situated around their coastal areas, which now sit silently in the landscape, imbued with recent history, Wilson has created a permanent photographic record of the past. Some remain proud and strong, some are gently decaying; many now lie prone beneath the cliffs where they once stood, but through the effects of the passing years, all have become part of the fabric of the changing landscape that surrounds them.
The project takes in locations throughout the UK, from Cornwall in the south west of England to Shetland in the far north of Scotland and along the northern coasts of Europe including those of France, Belgium and Germany.
Born in London in 1968, Marc Wilson has exhibited his work widely. Exhibitions have included a group show at the Photographer’s Gallery, London; international shows in Milan, Grenoble and New York; the inaugural shows at the Back Hill and Now Showing Galleries, London; Art 2001 and Photo2005, London; The Association of Photographer’s Gallery and at the Focal Point gallery in Southend. Wilson has also shown work with Hotshoe International Magazine; he was part of the recent PDN Photo-annual 2006 “A year in pictures”, and his work is represented through Getty images and other photo-libraries. Wilson works both as an artist and commercial photographer and often teaches photography as a visiting lecturer at degree level. He now lives in Bath, England.