CERF 2019 Conference Artist:
Inga Clough Falterman

walk around, or
walk around me
oil on panel, 48" x 60"

Always hoping to be somewhere, my work is rooted in landscape. The spaces I present are where a lot of hoping occurs, and they incite the viewer to feel diminished or strong, and sometimes simultaneously insignificant and important. The landscapes are representational of what it means to be human; an attempt to keep, to build, to steady, to make secure.

Ultimately, humans are incapable of keeping, of warding off change, of complete ownership. Possessions are temporary, relationships evolve, bodies change, memories fade. We cannot even hold our breath.

cattails, or
juniper's, or
once, a try
oil on panel, 48" x 30" 

I constantly question the notion of what is home, and how it shifts and bends through time. Geography is important to me, and landscapes affect the intangible parts that make a home. 

My images are always set in the present, and act as attempts to answer questions of fulfillment, contentedness, purpose. The idea of keeping and hoping are tangled, and so becomes the bedrock of the content of my work. 

third coast, or
gulf
oil on panel, 48" x 24"

In regards to the CERF painting, I suggest the complicated relationship of the Gulf Coast with its companion waters. A presumption of tireless utilization of natural resources is linked with a seemingly abundant presence of those resources. Considerations of the image may include the relationship of community and industry, of marine and coastal ecosystems, of wetlands and open water, of the individual and of his or her natural environment. 

The “third coast,” which is also a name of the CERF painting, is vulnerable. Industry is often in precarious locations as are residential communities. 

game, or
may I make an observation
oil on panel, 48" x 48"

The life of things that live in the wetlands and in the tributaries and in the open water are also just as vulnerable. Perhaps the image, overall, encourages one to consider a timeline of what the landscape and the relationships therein were before and what they will be, compared to what they are at present.

I currently live in Mandeville, Louisiana, on the third coast. I may have different answers for where my home is.