Judy Natal

Judy Natal

(American, b. 1952)

On the Road, from the series: EarthWords

1999

Gelatin silver print, selenium toned

8 1/8 by 10 5/8 inch image on 11 x 14 inch paper

Signed edition of 50

Judy Natal was an artist-in-residence at Joshua Tree National Park, California from 1999 to 2001. A longtime admirer of the works and writings of Robert Smithson, Natal used the opportunity to intervene in the landscape and create monumental pieces that investigate the relationships between image and text, photography and land-art. The over-sized letters she positions in the landscape operate like archeological fragments that invite decoding; sometimes words and meanings can be deciphered from the letters, while other pictures are more enigmatic. Her ultimate intent, she explains, is to invert the traditional text-image relationship by having the viewer "read the photograph and view the text."