"Talbot was not taking a picture through the window of the world
outside as Niepce, Daguerre and many others did. Instead, Talbot chooses to
look at the window itself. He tells us that photography is about framing and
then shows us nothing but that frame. He suggests that photography offers a
window onto the world but chose nothing but that window." (Batchen, 2001:
10)
The ‘Opacities’ are photograms of
what is often called obscured glass, the kind of glass one finds in private
parts of domestic homes. The sheets of
glass act as compound lenses, fracturing and refracting the light to specific
focal points directly onto light sensitive paper. The resultant images reveal,
as one would expect, something of the hidden structure of glass and its
peculiarity as neither a liquid nor a solid. But what couldn’t be anticipated
was the strange, uncanny space created in this hybrid world of geometric,
crystal structure and fluid, organic form. In the process of making the
photograms a single millimeter movement of the glass from the photographic
paper can dissolve crystal formations into visceral, organic shapes. The series
celebrates an intimate and indexical connection between these two most dominant
media of transparency in our culture – glass and photography. In this hidden
and opaque space are generated ambiguous configurations which are both abstract
matrices and photographic images. This ambiguity of the image seems to free the
viewer from the ties that these different image expectations make, allowing the
viewer a freedom for imaginary projection. The images of glass seem to reveal
something of that exact same ambiguity in the photographic image, their
simultaneous crystalline fixity and organic fluidity, as one medium of
transparency creates an image of itself in another medium of transparency.
Opacity (2023) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
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Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm framed silver gelatine photogram, Install.
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Flatland Projects Install (2024) In partnership with Arts Council England, De La Warr Pavillion, Eastbourne Alive, East Sussex Arts Partnership, Rother District Council and Tallent Accelerator.
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Opacity I (2023) 51.3cm x 35cm framed cyanotype contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine contact print.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 10.16cm x 12.7cm silver gelatine photogram.
Opacity (2024) 29.8cm x 35cm framed silver gelatine photogram, Install.
Flatland Projects Install (2024) In partnership with Arts Council England, De La Warr Pavillion, Eastbourne Alive, East Sussex Arts Partnership, Rother District Council and Tallent Accelerator.
Opacity I (2023) 51.3cm x 35cm framed cyanotype contact print.