Time Swims in Circles
On residency in Spetses I built a darkroom to create a new body of work. The resulting exhibition consisted of a sequence of twelve unique photograms on two custom designed steel structures that each took the form of a circular 'book' of six pages. The series of images could not be viewed simultaneously; the display structures required the viewer to walk in a figure of eight (or infinity symbol) path to see the photograms in a sequence with no beginning or end.
The works involved layering two fluid processes; darkroom photogrammetry and Japanese Suminagashi marbling. Floating concentric loops of black ink in a glass dish of water, recorded photographically rather than by printing, evoking the eye of the camera lens or watchful marine mammals.
The forms repeat and mutate over the cycle of images; a multiplicity of objects collected from the island. Compositions of shoals of glass on a spectrum of sharp to soft, smoothed by the waves; circular plastic detritus gathered from the beaches; sea urchins, fish bones and various seaweeds; clear plastic coffee cups; decaying fishing ropes and nets; obsolete laboratory equipment from the school’s old science rooms; plastic mobile phone components and cases; cactus skeletons and plant roots.
Through making this work I was seeking a re-enchantment with image making; returning to the direct trace of light on photographic paper instead of shuffling around pixels in the ruthless algorithms. A return to a more playful photography, welcoming liquid and chemical contingency.