SAND

The work of Canadian artist Tim Pelling takes various forms, regularly using environmental issues as a platform. His current series of landscapes deals with how humans impact their environment and how humanity is affected. At first glance, many of his images confront us with undeniable neglect and degradation, at the same time a quiet beauty emerges.

Tim works hard to keep things simple, both in his images and in his process. Born and raised on the Canadian prairie, the sweeping, stark landscapes of Saskatchewan influence how he creates his images and reduces complex landscapes to their innate essence. “I step into a chaotic environment and try to make sense of it all, bring order to what I see before me, an order that makes sense to me and hopefully to others. I am always looking for the intimate scene in the larger landscape to understand how nature contends with the consequences of our actions,” says Pelling.

After graduating from Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 1985, Tim lived and worked in Vancouver for a decade. His move to Asia in 1997 redefined and clarified the direction he would take over the next 20 years with assignments that have carried him all over the world.

Two recent projects include “liquid bangkok”, which examines the famous but deeply degraded waterways of Bangkok, and “cleared”, which explores the Canadian grasslands and how they have been altered by large-scale farming. When not on location photographing, Tim divides his time between Southeast Asia and Toronto Canada.