Tornado 2019

‘Tornado’ is a brief photographic examination of a spinal of unused fencing located just next the disused cabin at the Valle Vidal. It is a corner of the valley populated with latent objects, aged and still, and burdened with tales of disease and past Presidents.

The whirl of metal has such movement and energy to it. Yet the harsh, steely glisten of the material is undermined by the manipulation into the contorted spiral. It is flexible, bouncy and it rolls now. But make no mistake it is locked in its current state.

The midday sun multiplies the spiral and elongates its reach. Crawling along the gravel, the object becomes a wave. An extension made in black and white. Before it will retreat into darkness.

I would heave the object until it could stand, and it would take on a new life. Gravity would force the coils to shift and scratch to bear the weight before silence announced it was stable. The mess of metal condenses toward the centre into a suffocated entanglement, a frantic scribble of metal lines fighting for space until no room is left. And as it spirals toward the outer coils, the landscape behind the spindle comes into view, piercing through in a series of segments.

A fence turned in on itself is chaotic. An absurd and surreal subject to encounter in a fittingly surreal place and one that carries a huge sculptural and poetic significance.

Photography: Jake Gatehouse

Layout & Design: Jake Gatehouse and Nick Monro-Meares