Andy Goldsworthy
British, born 1956
PRAIRIE CAIRN/ FOR MY FATHER/ GRINNELL, IOWA, 2001-2002
Suite of fifteen Cibachrome prints and one smaller framed title panel
A cairn is a mound of rough stone that serves as a landmark or memorial, a practice that can be traced to prehistoric times. Andy Goldsworthy has frequently used this form in his sculpture. The photographs seen here document an ephemeral component of the artist's Three Cairns project (2002), for which he constructed companion permanent sculptures on the grounds of the Des Moines Art Center. Prairie Cairn was built in the spring of 2001 at Grinnell College's Conard Environmental Research Area, near Kellogg, Iowa. Goldsworthy's cairns are made through dry-point masonry, in which no mortar is used; instead, the stones are precisely fitted together, relying on weight and friction for their stability. Goldsworthy photographed Prairie Cairn over eighteen months, with varying heights of grass, in snow, and while the area was subjected to a controlled maintenance burn. This cairn is intended to collapse in time as it is eroded by wind and weather.
