Bodyscapes: This artist makes mountains out of flesh

Carl Warner offers a 'more intimate reflection of our inner being' by viewing our bodies as landscapes

(Carl Warner)

The similarities between the contours of the human body and hills and valleys have been explored by many poets, but artist Carl Warner nailed it as well as anyone in a set of images.

His ‘Otherscapes’ series sees vistas constructed using great hunks of flesh, inclines of skin and shadows of joints.

There’s something deliciously sinister about the images and their impression of size and contortion, which Carl sees as “an alternative portrait of a human being whose body becomes a landscape of themselves and plays on the sense of space in which we dwell.

“The external view of ourselves therefore becomes a more abstract and perhaps more intimate reflection of our inner being when viewed as a landscape or given a sense of place.”

Some of the images were fairly simple to create - such as the torso with a sky added behind it - while others required a good deal of digital work.

“Where there are multiple body parts involved the post production is more protracted,” Carl explains, “but I love the composing of images in this way.”

"As cool as it would have been if the shoot involved several people entwining their bodies together, Warner needed to use individuals to maintain continuity.

“Each image in the series uses only one person's body, shot from different angles,” he says.

“I know people would love these to be made with many different bodies, but doing this will mean having different skin tones which will lose the sense of continuity within the landscape.

“I also like the fact that it is all made from one individual as it offers an aspect of alternative portraiture and becomes a more intimate connection with the subject.

“I also want to avoid the images looking too sexual and I think that mixing bodies at the shooting stage may cause the images to lean this way. I am more interested in the form and structure that brings a sense of place to the body as the space in which we dwell.”

Though Carl used unknown models and friends for the series, he thinks getting some famous bodies on board might advance the project.

“I would really like to move the work forward by photographing well known people whose bodies have carried them through their personal journeys,” he muses.

You can view more of his work on his website.