Greetings on a rainy Wednesday morning in April. I’ve been holed up these last two months, Cyanotype printing for the Emsworth and Chichester Art 2022 Trails that take place the weekend of the 23/24th April and the 30th/1st and 7/8th of May.
The Strandline Portfolio is evolving into printed images created around objects I spot on the edges of our harbour, of the moments of ecological events (100-year storms, pollution and plastic in the Harbour), of the interconnected mess of ecological communities and life. I’ve tea-stained some wonderful Storm Eunice waves. The hundred- year storm. Possibly a once-in-lifetime-event.
Storm Eunice 18th Feb 2022. Cyanotype on Khadi, A5, tea stained.
Curating for art trail content is hard for me. On the one hand I need to present a coherent, connected body of work that has a strong story and looks great up on the wall. On the other hand, I want to share the alchemy and excitement of the dimroom and how one piece of work sometimes leads into another. The two positions are not always mutually exclusive. However, making Libran decisions on which images are in and in what format, framed or unframed, mounted or unmounted…you can see how reaching the point of display is more than nail biting.
The ‘Found on the Strandline’ series is coming together, and I’m hustling the idea around my head of the same image(s) treated in three different ways. A foundling crab or a wave from Storm Eunice, printed in the studio as a Cyanotype, (Prussian blue) a tea-toned Cyanotype, (deep chocolate) and a giclee print (black and white). I’m not set on it just yet but it’s an idea.
Sputnik Sea Urchin, part of the global trade in sea life. This species is not rare, found in the Indo- Pacific regions, available from Amazon…teastained on A5 Khadi paper.
I’m also exploring what the strandline means and to whom. Ecologically, it’s the line of debris found on the beach where the tide goes out. But there are wider strandlines that inform my thinking.
Stonepillow is a local homeless charity that works with people on the strandline of society. A good number of the still life subjects that call to be photographed I have found in Stonepillow. Jelly moulds and old souvenirs.
These are the connections.
Work in progress. Studio tea-staining experiments underway.
Jelly Mould, Glass. Stonepillow 2022. Found on the Strandline.
Another find at Stonepillow has made its way into the series. This is a carved leopard cowrie with Florida’ etched into the nacre and a little ‘Made in the Philippines’ sticker on its shelly lips. Heartbreaking. The need for Philippine communities on economic strandlines making tourist souvenirs, sourced from their own local tidal pools and reefs, and sent across the world for ecologically ignorant tourists to buy. As if they’d picked it up off the Florida beaches. Species on the strandlines of ecological risk.
Another work in progress. Probably a giclee print of this ecosouvenir.
The tidal connections that make up our wider society, ecological, social, economic, are repeating themes in my work.
In the meantime: Save the Date for an art trail visit. At Emsworth I’m in the Methodist Church Hall (the atrium next to the tearooms, so super-central) and I’m at Number 2, Mariners Terrace, Bosham for the Chichester Art Trail.
And - a decision made - please consider yourself invited to the Private View on Friday 29th April, 4-8pm at Number 2. (I’m sending out a digital invite but if you read it here and would like to come, do email me back. I keep a very loose grip on the numbers!).
It will be a delight to see you.