{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O499248"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O499248/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP5642/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BP5642/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BP5642","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Jem Southam","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BP5641","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London/Jem Southam","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O499248/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O499248","accessionNumber":"E.2562:1, 2-2007","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Upton Pyne, January 1997","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Jem Southam (born Bristol 1950) is renowned for his series of colour landscape photographs, beginning in the 1970s and continuing until the present. His trademark is the patient observation of changes at a single location over many months or years. \r\n\r\nSoutham's subjects are predominately situated in the south west of England where he lives and works. He observes the balance between nature and man's intervention and traces cycles of decay and renewal. His work combines topographical observation with other references: personal, cultural, political, scientific, literary and psychological. Southam’s working method combines the predetermined and the intuitive. Seen together, his series suggest the forging of pathways towards visual and intellectual resolution.\r\n\r\nSoutham uses a large format camera to produce 8 x 10 inch (20.5 x 25.5 cm) negatives that record a high level of detail. C-type prints are made from these.  When the pictures are enlarged from the negatives they reveal an entrancing wealth of information.\r\n\r\nThe diptych 'January 1997' is from the series 'The Pond at Upton Pyne', which charts the fortunes of a village pond transformed by successive periods of neglect and attempts at landscaping.","physicalDescription":"Diptych by Jem Southam, images of pond","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jem Southam","id":"A4364"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"C-type process","id":"THES258425"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"C-type prints","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2007BP5642","2007BP5641"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"B","id":"THES304598"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"A","id":"THES304196"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}],[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"uk","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1997","earliest":"1997-01-01","latest":"1997-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased through funds generously donated by Pierre Brahm","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"100.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"116.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Both photograph frames are the same size.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Diptych by Jem Southam, images of pond","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"\"The pond at Upton Pyne formed at the site of an 18th-century manganese\r\nmine. I became fascinated with this eyesore in the middle of a small agricultural\r\nand dormitory village. It challenged the notion of what a village pond should\r\nreally look like. On returning one afternoon I met a man working at the edge of\r\nthe water. He lived next door and with the agreement of the landowners he\r\nhad started to transform the area. For three years he worked and I\r\nphotographed. It seemed at times that he was struggling and then one day he\r\nsuddenly abandoned the project and left the village. For the next three years I\r\nfollowed the work of two others who, though driven by a very different vision,\r\ncontinued to transform this small patch of land.\r\n\r\nWithin the span of six years the pond has risen and fallen and flooded, trees have collapsed, herons and kingfishers have returned, the roof the adjacent shed has fallen in and the collection of farm machinery has grown. The images present a collection of histories, for as well as detailing the minutiae of these shifts they reflect the coming and going of the Industrial Revolution, the decline of agricultural life with the advent of chemical farming and the urbanisation of village life. And running as threads through the work are the myths that pervade our imaginations and motivate so many of our actions in respect of landscape.\" - Jem Southam","date":{"text":"2007-2008","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2008-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["E.2562:2-2007","E.2562:1-2007"],"accessionNumberNum":"2562","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2007,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","photographs [1]","photographs [2]"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-06-20","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":true}}