BEN NASON

The first geometric hay bales appeared on the landscape in the latter stages of the industrial revolution, when we humans strongly believed in ourselves as a benevolent force, when plenty

was starting to become our central aspiration and when our impact on the climate was well under way. I chose to make these images – darker echoes of Monet’s haystacks – in black and white, like the early daguerreotypes of ancient Greek monuments or the industrial forms captured by Hilla and Bernd Becher. I found, on closer inspection, that each one of these straw monoliths reveals itself as a poignantly individual portrait. I find hope in this; in our relentless impulse to scan our surroundings for interconnection. I also discovered, talking to a local farm worker, that there’s an art to stacking bales: if moist, baled hay is not stacked right, the build-up of heat can become so great that it causes the stack to spontaneously combust.

BN 01.06.19