Posts tagged: Mishka Henner

Artist: Mishka Henner

Title: Selfie

Year: 2017

Medium: Reflective dye sublimation print on aluminium

Dimensions: 215 x 337 mm

Accession Number:

Acquisition info: Purchased in 2021 to celebrate the launch of Energy House 2, University of Salford.

Henner’s practice ‘navigates through digital terrain to focus on key subjects of cultural and geo-political interest – often reflecting on cultural and industrial infrastructures.

To make Selfie, the artist zoomed all the way out from their studio address in Manchester on Google Earth – and then zoomed out even further.  Using an intentionally reflective surface, the viewer finds their own image superimposed on the small earth – especially when taking a photo or selfie.  The artist comments: “With your reflection in the picture, this is you, the world, and everything you’ve ever known”.

Selfie was acquired to mark the launch of Energy House 2.0, a world-leading new facility on campus. It is display alongside other works chosen from the Art Collection, which all consider how we use technology to understand the world around us.  The University Collection also includes two earlier works by Henner, Wasson Oil and Gas Field, Yoakum County, Texas (2013-14) and Cedar Point Oil Field, Harris County, Texas (2013-14)

Part of our About the Digital collection strand.

About the artist:  Born in Belgium in 1976, Henner now lives and works in Greater Manchester. He exhibits nationally and internationally, and has work held in public and private collections.

Artist: Mishka Henner (b. 1976)

Title: Wasson Oil and Gas Field, Yoakum County, Texas

Year: 2013-2014

Medium: Archival pigment print mounted to aluminium

Dimensions: H:149cm W:258cm

Accession Number: 2015-6

Acquisition info: Purchased in 2015

Henner is one of the UK’s most significant artists working with and interrogating the photographic medium. Based on the collection and mediation of publicly available imagery sourced through the internet, satellites and television, his appropriative practice explores the use and value of photography and its relationship with contemporary experience.

Henner’s Oil Fields series of large-scale photographic prints are composed of hundreds of high-resolution satellite images of each location stitched together to show intricate detail.  The prints are reminiscent of vast Abstract Expressionist canvases and represent landscapes carved by industries meeting extraordinary levels of consumer demand for one of North America’s most prized commodities: oil. Sourced from Google Earth, these satellite images of oil fields represent a systematic intent to maximise production and yield in order to satisfy extraordinary levels of human consumption. The result is a natural landscape transformed into something akin to the circuit boards that drive the logistical operations of these industries, and ultimately, feed consumers’ appetite for these resources.

Artist: Mishka Henner (b. 1976)

Title: Cedar Point Oil Field, Harris County, Texas

Year: 2013 – 14

Medium: Archival pigment print mounted to aluminium

Dimensions: 149 x 258 cm

Accession Number: US2015-5

Acquisition info: Purchased 2015

Henner is one of the UK’s most significant artists working with and interrogating the photographic medium. Based on the collection and mediation of publicly available imagery sourced through the internet, satellites and television, his appropriative practice explores the use and value of photography and its relationship with contemporary experience.

Henner’s Oil Fields series of large-scale photographic prints are composed of hundreds of high-resolution satellite images of each location stitched together to show intricate detail.  The prints are reminiscent of vast Abstract Expressionist canvases and represent landscapes carved by industries meeting extraordinary levels of consumer demand for one of North America’s most prized commodities: oil. Sourced from Google Earth, these satellite images of oil fields represent a systematic intent to maximise production and yield in order to satisfy extraordinary levels of human consumption. The result is a natural landscape transformed into something akin to the circuit boards that drive the logistical operations of these industries, and ultimately, feed consumers’ appetite for these resources.