Drawn to Fire

Drawn to Fire is an ongoing photography project that I first started back in 2006.

It is a project that connects many of my passions. My love of nature, fine art photography, bushcraft and camping out alone; working to create a temporary sensory space where I can immerse myself in the art making process.

Each work is a unique record of a performance around a campfire in a remote location; exploring the mark-making potential of light in the darkness the elements and the senses. The work explores the notion of an artistic and meditative focal point.

The work is concerned with reconnecting with a primal energy, working with and trying to capture an ancient light; starlight, moonlight, campfire light.

In each temporary location, fire – the human signature – is celebrated amongst a greater spectrum of available, often natural light.

Drawn to Fire is about working in the outdoors to nurture a positive space to birth the art within centred around a campfire.

My bushcraft skills allowed me to camp out on the land and granted me a creative freedom to experience the space. My relationship with fire and the location are both the subject and the sitter within all of these photographs.

I would often stay awake all night when I made this work; waiting for the light to feel just right. Committed to spend the night in the location come what may allowed a letting go of time; sometimes a peaceful meditation would develop between myself and the campfire.

I view my work as a kind of abstract-expressionistic performance, using fire as paint on a scale defined only by the location and the scope of the lens.

Kenny Martin