ENTRY DESCRIPTION
From the 13th century onwards, the Walsers, who had migrated from the Upper Valais, settled in the higher areas of the Liechtenstein Rhine Valley.
The Walsers cleared areas that were difficult to access and the first settlements and hamlets such as Masescha, Silum and Prufatscheng were established.
The stables and lean hay huts scattered all over the area are witnesses of the former way of farming.
The hay barns, made of fir wood, were exposed to the harsh changeable weather over all that time, which left traces, and I followed these traces in the winter of 2020/21.
At the end of February we had a warm, dry and hazy weather situation for a long time, similar to a desert climate. This warm air current from North Africa transported a large amount of desert dust from the Sahara to us. The hazy, slightly yellowish-orange sky created a unique light atmosphere. I took advantage of this "greeting from the desert" and created many works in this special light. This was the bridge - so to speak - that paved the way from my desert photography to these woodworks.
Since my main photographic work is aerial photography - I tried to apply the same compositional approach I use in aerial photography to these wood structures. I left out everything that looks like "classic wood" at first glance and focused entirely on the lines and contours in order to develop my own visual language.
Wood structures are constantly changing. There are many forces at work that are still at work today and thus continue to tell the old stories of these wooden huts.
They shape, they create, they destroy.

AUTHOR
Roland Blum, 1966 Grabs, lives and works in Schaan, Liechtenstein.
He studied music at the Jazz School and at the conservatory in Lucerne.
Work focus: abstract landscape photography with main focus on aerial shots.
I have been involved in photography since I was 10 years old. My father introduced me to the world of analogue photography. In these early days, I gained my first experience with abstract photography in the field of macro photography. Since then aerial photography became my main subject. 80% of my photographic work has consisted of aerial photography in the abstract landscape field.Some of roland blum's essential works are presented in his online gallery www.rolandblum.com

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