Mari Alice Conrad: "Snag" for string octet
Image photo: Wes Bell ( www.wesbellphoto.com/fine-art )
SNAG - Box Springs Road, Cypress County, AB, Canada
Gelatin Silver Print
2016
Performed by the Primrose and Thunder Bay String Quartets on June 24, 2023 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for the Evolution Chamber Music Residency. Members of the Primrose Quartet include Ryan Char , violin, Cameron Alan-Lee, violin, Clement Pickering, viola; Shannon Ross, cello. Members of the Thunder Bay String Quartet include: Chris Stork, violin; Kimberly Durflinger, violin; John Sellick, viola; Bryce Penny, cello.
Snag - Mari Alice Conrad
I. four wires
II. three wires
III. two wires, above the horizon
The composer wishes to acknowledge fine art photographer Wes Bell, for permission to integrate three photos from his series, Snag, into the composition. For more information on Wes Bell please visit his website: www.wesbellphoto.com/fine-art
Composer notes: In my work I search for meaning and connection in the landscapes around me. I have learned that my own environment, if mindfully explored, can summon deep questions about being human and reveal beauty in the unexpected, everyday moments. I was struck by the expression of mundane beauty in the work of Wes Bell, an Alberta fine art photographer, and his photography collection Snag.
The series of photographs include black and white images of tattered plastic caught in barbed-wired fences that line the prairies of southern Alberta. Bell’s images are powerful and transport me to my childhood where my parents would fly kites with me in the same open fields and blue skies of southern Alberta. Things are different now. I am no longer swaying carefree in the wind like a kite but am caught like a piece of plastic on a fence in a complex and delicate snare of memories of a time passed and the fear of what will come. Bell’s collection explores similar poignant themes such as the fear of the unknown, vulnerability, grief, and loss, evoking a powerful relationship between place and human experience.