Double Erasure: Winter Field. Multiply erased graphite on Canaletto paper by David Smith

Erasure and redaction

I am endlessly fascinated by the signs left in our landscapes by past actions whether that be tidemarks in the sand that are changed twice each day or crop marks from ancient settlements. It seems that every action leaves a trace – we only need to watch a forensic crime drama to see how technology can detect those traces from smaller and smaller samples – a trace that cannot ever be fully erased or deleted, though it may be altered, distorted and become fainter and harder to read with time. The same is true of our memories! These works explore these ideas: sometimes fairly literally; sometimes intellectually; sometimes expanded politically.