Dyan Ditolla Grey: T E R R A V I V A

 

Dyan Ditolla Grey’s art is a fusion of bas-relief sculpture, temporal earthworks, and photography. Her monumental figures are ephemeral; they erode and are reclaimed by the earth within months of completion. In the time between their completion and ruin, Ditolla Grey stage a series of richly detailed, color-saturated photographs which unfold the story of a vanished people.

The sculptures for TERRA VIVA were carved into compressed layers of sand, brown and red earth, rock, iron ore, and clay on the side of a Staten Island cliff. They reveal a civilization on the verge of destruction by an unspecified catastrophe. As the moment of death draws near, each member of the community is caught in his/her final act or thought process. Although the titles allude to a Western, Christian people, the details of the story are never fully disclosed. It is this ambiguity which leads the viewer to wonder: Who are these people? What has befallen them? Is the disaster man-made, an act of God, an act of war, or a natural catastrophe?

Ditolla Grey’s sculptural technique runs the gamut from crudely finished to highly articulated surfaces. The figures are faceless; their emotional expressiveness comes from coiled muscles, hunched backs, bowed heads, and clenched or relaxed hands. With her camera, Ditolla Grey is able to fuse photographic techniques with the line, volume, scale, and detailing of the sculptures. The camera allows her to shift relationships between the figure and the surrounding land, often changing the viewer’s understanding of the scale of a particular figure. Starkly contrasting light and shadow, raking camera angles and the cropping or framing of individual figures produce strong visual effects which add to the mystery of the story.

Perhaps the most poetic element of the work is he way in which the natural erosion of the site enhances meaning. Figures which were once whole become fragmented. And the land—from which the figures come to life—seems to bleed, as exposed veins or iron ore drip red pigment over the statues. There is a spiritual intensity between the earthy, the sculptures, and the artist which communicates a wide range of social political, and psychological concerns.

Mara A. Williams, Curator
BRATTLEBORO MUSEUM & ART CENTER