The 1917 completion of the Lake Washington Ship Canal and the Montlake Cut dramatically lowered Lake Washington. Shorelines were created; the Black River disappeared; routinely flooded places became dry and dry places, wet. Over the last year, I began researching this transformation, fascinated by the impact of man on the landscape. Like a palimpsest, the lake and wetlands were partially removed to make room for another text. Today, wetlands are reclaiming some of those areas and returning them to their earlier form. In others, man's encroachment remains.
This is my attempt to reveal the illusive story of this intervention: my research, and a selection of pinhole photographs and soundscapes I composed in response to this altered landscape.
Lake Washington Palimpsest: The Book
About the artist
- Ellen Sollod
- In contrast to a relentlessly cacophonous world in which our experiences are often mediated ones, I seek to create art that arrests you in the moment and encourages you to be where you are. In my public work, I am motivated by a desire to make you more aware, physically and psychologically, of your surroundings and your response to them. Social, political, historical and environmental conditions inform my approach. In my personal work, through a wide range of media, I create visual and verbal metaphors to probe personal and social issues. For me, art making is a relentless process of inquiry and discovery. A persistent experimenter, I am never the one to let things be. I am always asking questions and exploring answers with the explicit intention of using the work to engage you in dialogue.
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