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Rita Lazauskas, Morocco 2010
As an Australian I found something familiar in the immense and ancient, mountain landscapes of Morocco, but the urban landscape was something entirely new to me. I was particularly taken with the juxtaposition of old and new. The mediaeval rooftops of the medina peppered with satellite dishes and the whole scene dissected by the TV aerials and electricity cables.
The challenge is to capture a complex image on a small piece of paper using a relatively blunt instrument. I start with a blacked out field of charcoal and begin the drawing by erasing back to the white paper, a process that gives them a slightly dark cast.
Often interrupted by passers by or by time constraints – waiting travel companions and guides – subject to the elements or the discomfort of sitting on a rock for too long, the series responds to the place and environment in a quick and spontaneous way.
The images are a record of some 20 minutes of my focussed attention on the urban scenes and architecture – snapshots of the patterns seen from rooftop terraces, the stork’s nests, mosques or fortresses.
Click thumbnails to view slideshow.
