Imported Landscapes 2010 — Corinne Silva

Site specific installation and three c-type photographs, 179cm x 143 cm

The plate of Africa is moving at a rate of 1cm per year against and underneath the Eurasian plate. In ten to fifteen million years, the Mediterranean Sea will no longer exist.

The landscapes of southern Spain and northern Morocco share many geographical features including climate, flora and fauna, as well as a history of trade and mobility. In 711, Berber tribes straddled the Mediterranean Sea, at its narrowest point only 14 kilometres, to build a Muslim empire in what was then al Andalus. They were forced out in the 1400s and since then Spain has retained possession of Ceuta and Melilla. During the last century it further colonised northern Morocco. Many Moroccans currently provide cheap labour for the agricultural industry in southern Spain, and those that are able invest money in property along the rapidly developing northern Moroccan coast.

To consider these connected and overlapping Mediterranean landscapes Corinne Silva travelled along the northern Moroccan coast from Tangier towards the Algerian border, and made a series of landscape photographs. She then created an intervention in the Spanish landscape by installing three of these images on 8 by 3 metre billboards in specific locations in the region of Murcia.

The billboards are a reminder that landscapes themselves are palimpsests. Each individual’s actions actions can be traced in the landscape. The act of placing one landscape inside another - the southern hemisphere into the northern - creates a space to contemplate not only their shared topography but also the complex web of their ongoing connection of trade, mobility and colonisation.

New suburb of Tangier placed in former mining region La Unión, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Port Tanger Med placed in highway leading to retail park, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Resort town of Al Hoceima placed in former industrial zone, Cartagena, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Imported Landscapes installation view, Murcia, Spain, 2010

Installation view, My Sister Who Travels, The Mosaic Rooms, London, 2014, Imported Landscapes, 2010

ReGeneration 3, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, 29 May to 23 July, 2015

CLICK TO WATCH: Proyecto RIMAR: Imported Landscapes de Corinne Silva, interview with the artist, 2012

New suburb of Tangier placed in former mining region La Unión, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010New suburb of Tangier placed in former mining region La Unión, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Port Tanger Med placed in highway leading to retail park, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010Port Tanger Med placed in highway leading to retail park, Murcia, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Resort town of Al Hoceima placed in former industrial zone, Cartagena, Imported Landscapes, 2010Resort town of Al Hoceima placed in former industrial zone, Cartagena, Imported Landscapes, 2010

Imported Landscapes installation view, Murcia, Spain, 2010Imported Landscapes installation view, Murcia, Spain, 2010

Installation view, My Sister Who Travels, The Mosaic Rooms, London, 2014, Imported Landscapes, 2010 Installation view, My Sister Who Travels, The Mosaic Rooms, London, 2014Imported Landscapes, 2010

ReGeneration 3, Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, 29 May to 23 July, 2015

CLICK TO WATCH: Proyecto RIMAR: Imported Landscapes de Corinne Silva, interview with the artist, 2012Imported Landscapes by Corinne Silva. Interview with the artist, 2012Edited by Lara Garcia Reyne

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