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Vol. 4 No. 1 (2019): Visual Spaces of Change: Unveiling the Publicness of Urban Space through Photography and Image

HC (hortus conclusus)

DOI
https://doi.org/10.24840/2183-8976_2019-0004_0001_03

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Abstract

HC stands for hortus conclusus, a Latin term that means “enclosed garden”.
In the HC series, the principles of medieval art with regard to pictorial space and perspective are applied to photography. In the Middle Ages, many images were rendered in parallel perspective; the viewpoint is always elevated. I have employed these spatial representations in my images.

You will find these principles in many images of gardens in medieval book illustrations. Linear perspective was not developed until the Late Middle Ages; prior to this, artists employed multiple perspectives. These did not obey a particular spatial logic; instead, the available perspectives served a narrative purpose. If the narrative required a scene to be set in a particular place, this space was “opened out”, while the remaining space was shown as a flatter plane.

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