In the framework of my PhD project Meteolore: Air Stones, Ground Holes I propose an unfolding of a new chapter - field pigments -, which is growing out of my long-term research on minerals, stones and geologic imagination. This research project will study the relationships between colour and landscapes, ancient history and sensory fieldwork, artistic practice and scientific knowledge. The central aim is to learn from the pigment-creating mineral/microbial/botanical processes in their home landscapes and to reflect on the potential of landscapes participating in their own image-making.
field pigments is part of my PhD research where I want to transform the habit of objectifying environments and instead find new forms of storytelling that rises from the entanglement with different species, senses and processes. In my PhD project I have turned towards the meteorite as an imaginary that inspires other ways of relating to our environments. The struggle with being stuck in creating always the same landscape images became apparent during the field work at the Kaali meteorite crater lake site. My gaze was trapped in the images and postcards that had been taken before me.
I feel motivated by the challenge of finding another way of relating, observing, participating. How not to make the same image all the time? How to learn from and allow the land and the earth pigments participate in the image-making in order to form a more entangled/layered representation of the landscape? These questions are the starting point of a new branch of research I will start with field pigments. Instead of getting lost in the theories of widely studied topic of representation and sublime, I wish to have a more hands-on approach and move towards the landscapes themselves - to listen deeply what the inhabiting beings are expressing about their homes.
I am curious to know what charcoal, ochre, calcite, iron oxide and woad plant can tell me about the landscapes they inhabit. What kind of images appear through the materiality of pigments? How to let controlled chaos into the process, so the landscape can be more actively present in its own image-making? What is a landscape image if one listens deeply to (the pigments of the) place? If the landscape elements can express themselves through the pigment, how to translate that into artistic work?
This project will take place from February until November 2026, involving field work on pigments: charcoal black in Pianpicollo Selvatico/Cambiano (IT); ochre yellow in Roussillon; iron red in Jõhvi or woad blue in Hiiumaa island (EE). I have contacted Italian artist duo Caretto/Spagna for charcoal making workshop, Estonian herbal plant enthusiast Pille Laiakask, and the natural heritage dye specialist Liis Luhamaa for knowledge in plants and dyeing. I will also collaborate with the graphic designer Anna Bierler to find a resonating form for the research - a research journal on pigments and/or a set of instruction cards for sensory landscape/pigment/body practices.
Grantee
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Marit Mihklepp |
Project partners / cooperations |
Andrea Caretto/Raffaella Spagna
Anna Bierler
Liis Luhamaa
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Dates and places
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February-March 2026: Italy
May-June 2026: France
July-October 2026: Estonia
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Weblink
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maritmihklepp.com; @maritmihklepp
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