What’s in a landscape?

Photography turns 200 in 2026 and FLOW Photofest will be collaborating with the Nordic Photography Network to produce an exhibition as part of the Bicentennial of Photography campaign.

In keeping with the core aims of the campaign, the exhibition ‘What’s in a Landscape’ will feature work from LVII Photography Collective that responds to the historical, artistic and social significance of photography.

Since the 18thC Highland Clearances there has been a sustained focus on how human and material resources can be optimised in the interest of capital gain. The impact various initiatives have had on the people and the landscape has been represented in song, poetry, prose and of course the visual arts. However, it is also a history that has been stereotyped and marginalised.

It is fair to say that current landscape photography is obsessed with land and sea and that there is a proliferation of images in a style that might be described as contemporary pictorialism. It is a very particular and recognisable representation of Scotland. In his book ‘Scottish Art since 1960’, Craig Richardson presents us with a gentle challenge. He reasons that such is the legacy of Victorian romanticism on contemporary Scottish artists, then can we offer truly new representations of Scottish landscape and culture? We think yes, and the first step is to look that legacy from the 18thC and the Victorian era in the eye in posing the question, what’s in a landscape?