Wish, Jorge Rodríguez–Gerada, 2013

Is this the world’s largest photograph? Is it a photograph at all?

‘Wish’ by the photographer Jorge Rodríguez–Gerada is a commission for the Belfast Festival; he photographed a young local girl making a wish for the future (a corny idea). The photo itself is ordinary, but how he printed it makes it interesting. It’s laid out on an 11 acre paddock, “printed” with soil, sand, stones and wooden stakes.

The image can best be viewed from the air, and passengers landing at Belfast airport get a good view. Otherwise, an oblique view is possible from the adjacent Titanic Belfast museum, at the right of this image.

The photographer-sculptor-land artist-muralist (take your pick) specializes in giant portraits, rendered at public sites around the world, but this is his largest work. See his website for these ambitious projects.

Is it a photograph? It started out as a photo taken with a camera. And it looks like a photo when viewed from the air. So it’s just a question of the printing process, earth materials laid out on the ground instead of paper, ink or silver. Well, silver comes out of the ground, and ultimately all materials have some natural origin, so I’m granting it the status of World’s Largest Photograph.

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