John Curno Dartmoor
John Curno Dartmoor John Curno was born in Plymouth in 1949 and from an early age became interested in photography, through the work of Wynn Bullock, Paul Strand, Edward Weston and Walker Evans among others. He moved to York in 1977 to practice photography, a period when Impressions Photographic Gallery, founded by Andrew Sproxton and Val Williams, became a hub of for British photography. Soon after Impressions commissioned Curno to photograph the North Yorkshire Moors, supporting a productive time during his career. He returned to Devon in 1994 (with his wife Hilary) and continued to develop his landscape photography project work. He compares his series on the North York Moors with works made on Dartmoor, in which the latter ‘has a harsher beauty to it, more difficult to capture, this is Dartmoor in a different light and spirit, blending rocks, moor, fields and trees together in an abstract form, letting people see it as I often do. The altered landscapes of Dartmoor, the decay, death and rebirth of the moors interest me.’
After an initial introduction from Pete James, Head of Photographs at Birmingham Central Library, Fotonow CIC met with and became interested in Curno, and his photographic archive. This resulted in publishing a book sharing thirty-years of personal black & white photographs in It’s About Time, which stands as testament to years of hard-work in studying distinct and local spaces through photography. The physical exploration of landscape, through wandering, enables Curno a controlled freedom in considering and composing his photographs. Images that not only describe, but reveal something about himself; through mildly ironic and troubled silences, in the peacefulness where subtle moments spark confusion, and perhaps where the landscape and its human influences begin to disturb. In sifting through Curno’s photographic archives, and specifically the Dartmoor works, Fotonow CIC have been
able to focus upon these ideas; narratives of a local landscape to which Curno repeatedly returns, and is clearly a space for escape, to find a personal balance. The images included in this publication, alongside those exhibited at Devon Rural Archive, reflect themes such as the boundaries and furrows from the distant past, the quarries and work spaces that are now disused and abandoned and have become wild again, the timelessness and future uncertainty, the mystery and magic of the moor, the water giving life to the area. A glimpse at some of the of the thousands of photographs that Curno has made on Dartmoor over the years, as well as the large-scale works from Dartmoor Sensing, a series commissioned in 2002 by Aune Head Arts. The aim in curating such an exhibition is to remind ourselves that there is value in study, in using photography to document, reflect, and to begin to unravel some of the thought processes that emerge as we experience the world.
Fotonow is a not-for-profit photographic organisation that aims to create new opportunities in photography and facilitate socially motivated projects exploring visual culture across throughout the South West of England. Whether working to create employment for recent graduates or investing time into understanding the archives of past practitioners the social enterprise hopes that photography can be better made sense of, its function socially as well as economically. The sharing of Curno’s past Dartmoor work is the start of Fotonow moving towards developing more rurally focused project in thew region, having established a strong identity in Plymouth for developing photographic projects and initiative the organisation aims to outreach to new communities, so keep an eye out for more to from Fotonow on Dartmoor in the future. www.fotonow.org info@fotonow.org
This publication coincided with an exhibition at Devon Rural Archive, Shilstone, Modbury, Devon, which was on display from the 15th July until 5th September 2013. Thanks to Nick White (for scanning negs), Abi Gray (at DRA) and Hilary. Photographs Š John Curno No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright owners.
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ISBN: 978-1-908678-07-2