REIMAGINED LANDSCAPES

This work was borne out of threads of enquiry and experimentation, and an almost obsessive need to continue to remain creative and somehow escape the initial pandemic lockdown in March 2020. Attempting to stay connected to the environments I was now denied access to. But, still wanting to work within the loose confines of photographic processes, exploring their simplest forms – subject, (sun)light and a receptive material. All whilst never venturing further than 10-feet from my back door.

One such experiment to create images using the cyanotype process, whilst technically successful, I found dissatisfying in its outcome. So, initially in frustration, I began to explore more direct physical manipulation of the cyanotype materials and found I was able to create abstracts expressions of landscape forms. Forms that constantly colour shifted as the UV light from the sun caused reactions in the cyanotype sensitiser materials, creating image sequences that often spanned many days of exposure to the elements. In some sense these works took on a life of their own, each time they are exposed to light they morph and colour shift. I continued to develop the process further by introducing agents to the surface of the media, allowing my imagination to run wild, bringing together memories of landscapes visited and responses to current climate issues – re-imagining the landscape in my mind’s eye. With the only limit being that of my imagination and not the physical confines of the lockdown.

It is our mind, and that alone, that chains us or sets us free. – Dilgo Rinpoche

Publication

This series of work is now available in book form; standard, print and artist edition from JW Editions (Product page link)