Roger Ackling

Roger Ackling lives and works in Norfolk and teaches at Chelsea and Norwich School of Art and Design. He makes his intricate delicate objects from pieces of wood found on beaches and river banks. Using a magnifying glass he burns lines across the wood in a single sitting. His pieces are quiet, simple and powerful. Ackling is inspired by Oriental culture, has had several shows in Japan and has recently shown at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts.

Roger Ackling's work.

The research work undertaken at CERN is done primarily by theoretical and particle physicists. I was particularly attracted towards the theoretical. Although the experiments undertaken by particle physicists were often supported by impressive machinery I found that paradoxically that the theoretical was more tangible. From conversations with theoretical physicists it seemed to me that extra-ordinary maps were being constructed of countries that perhaps didn't exist. Maps made countries appear. I thought of these maps as belief structures, structures which would allow a way forward. In this sense the comparison with my own work practice was tangible.

My intention therefore was not to work metaphorically or to illustrate but paradoxically to set myself a task using parameters which seemed potentially limitless: time and space. I wanted to make a map, a visual belief structure that was a way forward for me. To do this I have worked within a practice and with concerns developed over thirty years while also using new untried ideas in the hope that something which was non visual could become visual, something potentially meaningless would become meaningful.

printer friendly version