Toronto based visual artist and filmmaker Ella Morton (she/her) uses analogue and lens based image making processes to record the remote landscapes of Canada, Scandinavia and Antarctica. Morton focuses on the fragility and the beauty of these unique landscapes using experimental analogue processes and through her expedition based practice. It is this method of making work that has brought her to projects and residencies across Canada. 'The Dissolving Landscape' is an examination of how climate change is affecting the Arctic and Subarctic. With this work, Morton guides the viewer to consider humanity's connection to the land and the accelerated rate in which it is deteriorating. Morton believes art can offer viewers a way to engage with global warming on a deeper level. "I consider myself a poetic activist, articulating the profundity of our relationship with the land, and the emotional complexity of its change and loss as global warming unfolds." 'The Dissolving Landscape' implores the viewer to consider our spiritual connection to the landscape as our planet is warming to a dangerous level.
© ella morton
Morton's work is unique in the way she photographs landscapes going through significant and obvious climate change. Her approach is both artistic and experimental while helping her convey a deeper story about these landscapes. Using a large format film camera and the mordançage process while in the darkroom she transforms the landscape of these silver gelatin prints into an eerie scene with shapes that are both recognizable and unrecognizable. Various textures and veils appear from the mordançage process that give an apocalyptic feeling to the scene. Utilizing this darkroom technique, Morton captures the fragile and sublime features of the Arctic and Subarctic landscape. The melting of texture, the warping of the paper and of the film emulsion emphasizes the spiritual influence of nature while simultaneously mourning it as the Earth continues to warm.
Morton's work has been exhibited internationally at the Center for Fine Art Photography (Fort Collins, CO), Hanstholm Art Space (Denmark) and Foley Gallery (New York) to name a few. She has been featured in publications such as the British Journal of Photography, Lenscratch, and the NPR Picture Show. Morton's work can be found on her website and on Instagram.
