Outer Spaces

Sarah Nicole Prickett

The Dutch sculptor and photographer Scarlett Hooft Graafland travels to the planet’s most untouched landscapes to create and capture het unexpected, surrealist images. Through a mix of careful choreography and intricate sculpture, not to mention some seriously serendipitous timing (she calls the pieces “interventions”), Graafland has documented, among other scenes, an igloo she helped to make entirely from lemonade –and another she wrapped in neon twine (top row, center) – in the Arctic plains of northern Canada, and, in Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flat, a vividly colored carpet made from dried spices laid atop the land (middle row, right). The images, she says, are as much about conservation as they are inspiration. “My response to climate change is a visual one”, says Graafland, who ensures that her work leave no waste – or trace – on the land. “I still hope the human race will survive, so I try to grasp some of the grim background, but add some lightness as well.”