Robert Darch was born in Birmingham 1979, based in the South West of England. He holds an MFA with distinction in Photographic Arts and a MA with distinction in Photography & the Book from Plymouth University. He also has a BA with honours in Documentary Photography from Newport, Wales. 

 

His practice is motivated by the experience of place, in which the physical geography and material cultures of places merge with impressions from contemporary culture that equally influence perception. From these varied sources, both real and imagined, he constructs narratives that help contextualize a personal response to place.

 

Darch spoke to us about two of his main projects Vale and The Moors. Each of these images are incredibly inspiring and each photograph speaks for itself. These photos are my favourite out of all the 61 images which are included in the project. There are sixty one coloured black and white images taken between January 2014 and May 2015 on Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor. this series can be found on Darch's website. The way he captures his subjects is intriguing because as you can see from his photos, the shadows on his photos look unique and mysterious which is inspiring to view. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Moor juxtaposes the dystopian bleakness and inherent wildness of its landscape against the fragility of the people that inhabit the fictional space. 
The series relies heavily on a visual narrative referencing local mythology to give context, but depicting something altogether more ‘unknown’.

 

The sense of narrative is reinforced by the reoccurrence of characters that are choosing to inhabit this unforgiving landscape, often appearing on edge, in peril or distressed. The notion of something ‘unseen’ is readily apparent and a force that isn’t overtly visible to the audience haunts the inhabitants. 

The realisation of this dystopian future is specifically in response to the perceived uncertainty of life in the modern world. Although the cause of the dystopia in ‘The Moor’ isn’t literally defined, within the images there are semiotic clues that offer suggestions. The fiction is grounded within the ‘real’ landscapes of the Moor. Though instead of overt staging, use of artificial lights and constructed sets, the work relies on using found locations, shifting between pseudo documentary and constructed photographs, constantly blurring that liminal space between fiction and reality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Vale is a series of fifty-five colour photographs taken between May 2013 and August 2015 in the South West of England. In its physical form, the work is resolved as a book. 

Vale is in part a nostalgic reinterpretation of summer, youth and the freedom associated with that time, though seen through tainted eyes. The warmth of the Summer is tempered by an internal melancholy of loss and the poetic narrative is in direct response to the emotions, feelings and thoughts cultivated during the period of isolation I experienced. The worktherefore sustains a constant dichotomy between the perceived beauty of the landscape and an underlying feeling of unease, tension, sadness and loss. The dense verdant landscape often obscures the view, the natural layers of undergrowth acting as metaphor for the layered narratives and for something that is veiled and unseen. Although within the series, youth and beauty is romanticised, there is an obvious disconnection between the people and the landscape, often appearing uneasy, lost or scared within it. The work blends fictional constructs with documentary images to create a subjective narrative and a sustained atmosphere of unease within a constructed sense of place. Although focused on a valley in the south west of England, the realisation of the landscape in ‘Vale’ is a construct, part a reimagining of aesthetics and semiotics derived from contemporary culture and also a romanticisation of memory, hope, place and remembered landscapes.