Andy Goldsworthy x Mary Douglass -- The Making of Order from Dirt

 

 

 Goldsworthy, Andy, 1956-. (Nov. 21-22, 1987). Japanese maple/leaves stiched togehter to make a foating chain/the next day it became a hole supported underneath by a woven briar ring, Ouchiyama-Mura, Japan. Retrieved from https://library.artstor.org/asset/ARTSTOR_103_41822003780416

    We’ve come to realize that, in part, the social theory of Mary Douglass sees "dirt as powerful, as dangerous, and transformative." "If we can abstract pathogenicity and hygiene as from our notion of dirt, we are left with the old definition of dirt as matter out of place," (Douglass 2002: 44) which I see in the work of Andy Goldsworthy, who organizes organic matter to create the subjects of his photography. Specifically in his work with fallen leaves, one could understand him redefining what we might view as "waste" or "dirt". Although admired while still attached to the tree, autumn leaves are functionally treated as a burden to the typical person. Whole service industries make their profit through their removal of the waste matter from people’s lawns and public parks. With this in mind, he aligns himself with Douglass in the understanding that “eliminating is not a negative movement, but a positive effort to organize the environment,” (Douglass 2002: 2). We can extrapolate the visual metaphor – seeing Douglass’s body-society parallel in that of the body of the tree & how we treat its remains. If one owns the land the tree is on, it can be argued that our ritual disposal of the leaves is effectively the same as other social rituals. In these, “higher” social classes use these to showcase their purity and commitment to societal agreements surrounding purity. In his organization of what is typically seen as waste, he transforms the “impure” into something beautiful.