In “Cowspines”, the bony topographies of cattle backs appear as rugged landscapes

Photography

#animals #cows #Kate Kirkwood #landscapes

Craggy, rugged topographies traverse the deceptive landscapes of Kate Kirkwood, a British photographer whose work is deeply rooted in the Lake District countryside where she has lived for 34 years. There, under clear blue skies or amidst the haze of heavy fog, Kirkwood frames what appear to be vast barren terrains which, upon closer examination, turn out to be fragmented shots of the animals wandering the fields. rather than the views themselves.

Taken during the summer months, the photos are part of his ongoing Cowspines series, a collection of images that magnify the bone structures and soft hides of cattle lined with small tufts of hair. The snaps are the result of a bond with the animals, Kirkwood tells Colossal, which involved “getting as close as they let me, feeling their warmth, swooning from their intense cow scent,” says -she. “Their rustle and milk was intoxicating, then, to notice how the sway and curve of their spines, hips and shoulders, harmonizing with the rocks, hills, clouds, fields and stone walls behind them was a very exciting achievement.”

Now compiled in a volume published by Ten O’Clock Books, the images present a distorted, yet celebratory, perspective of animals and their relationship to their environment. Kirkwood explains in an interview:

In the same way that the backs of living cows in my photographs become part of the landscape, so, perhaps, in a beautiful inversion, the landscape, the hills, the shapes, the weather become living entities, their assimilation of warm-blooded creatures in the foreground giving them a similar life force; hairy, bony, wispy, undulating life forms.

Currently, Kirkwood is working on a few series focusing on documenting life in the Lake District. You can explore a larger collection of his photography on his site and on Instagram. (via MetaFilter)

#animals #cows #Kate Kirkwood #landscapes

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