Photography by Peter Corr

Peter Corr's Photography

"We know the world exists beyond black, white and shades of grey; our everyday life is a kaleidoscope of colour. Light reaches our eyes and transforms into colour. Newton observed that colour is not inherent in objects, we are the sole authors of this coloured universe. Seeing triggers an array of emotions and cultural associations. Perception is inseparable from preconception, and colour acts as a distorting prism.

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For me, this land called the Fenland exists only in black and white; the colour here serves only to mislead and distract. It is a cosmetic, an affectation. This is a rudimentary, utilitarian landscape, reclaimed from the sea, re-purposed and reconfigured. 

I took these black and white photographs during the winter of 2020/21, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. They include landscapes, buildings, rivers, trees and roads; people are notable by their absence. 

There are no physical hills or mountains in the reclaimed land of the Cambridgeshire Fens, yet elevated peaks and fanciful names are everywhere. With a combination of stoic irony and daydreaming, locals give colourful place names to wetlands, ditches, dykes, droves, flood plains, roads, rivers and marshes. Not all of the places have identifiable names. Wherever possible, I have based the title of each photograph on the nearest named location.

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Near Gold Hill, an arrow straight road stretches towards an empty horizon in a scene reminiscent of an American road movie. Dark black skies and gathering clouds herald another downpour as the mist shrouds the landscape, like a magnificent environmental installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. In other latitudes, a technicolour world exists simultaneously."

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