Ditchling Beacon, Dew Pond

Jem Southam British
1999, printed 2003
Not on view
Since the 1970s Southam has focused on the traces of human intervention in the landscape, primarily in southwest England, where the artist lives and works. This dew pond at Ditchling Beacon (near Brighton), was excavated and then lined with layers of chalk and clay to hold water for grazing sheep or cattle on high ground. Dew ponds in southern England are documented as far back as the ninth century, but many were constructed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries after the Acts of Enclosure privatized common land and restricted the roaming of livestock. In his book Landscape Stories (2005), Southam writes of the ponds’ otherworldy quality: "Full, they are like a mirrored disk or an eye reflecting heavens. Empty, they resemble craters made by celestial objects crashing into the ground."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ditchling Beacon, Dew Pond
  • Artist: Jem Southam (British, born Bristol, 1950)
  • Date: 1999, printed 2003
  • Medium: Chromogenic print
  • Dimensions: Image: 92.7 x 116.8 cm (36 1/2 x 46 in.)
    Frame: 122.4 × 145.1 × 5.1 cm (48 3/16 × 57 1/8 × 2 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.511
  • Rights and Reproduction: © Jem Southam
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.