lino print and cyanotype on paper and fabric
various measurements
2023
this series of works were made during a one month residency
at Montemero Artist Residency in Southern Spain.
various measurements
2023
this series of works were made during a one month residency
at Montemero Artist Residency in Southern Spain.
In May of 2023 I got to spend a month at Montemero Art Residency in Spain.
The area was dry, rocky and desertlike. I had never been in such a place before. I was enchanted by the surrounding mountains, being close by the sea and living in such bare landscape. I become fascinated by trying to capture this place, document it, try and understand what it made me feel. I did this through drawing, writing, lino and cyanotype printing.
•
The area was dry, rocky and desertlike. I had never been in such a place before. I was enchanted by the surrounding mountains, being close by the sea and living in such bare landscape. I become fascinated by trying to capture this place, document it, try and understand what it made me feel. I did this through drawing, writing, lino and cyanotype printing.
•
The lino prints were inspired by the surrounding rock and stone formations. Being in that landscape it felt like time was visible there. The rocks, stones and mountains felt like they had scars of time passing: I could see the age of the world, how much time had passed. While at same time feeling the stillness and the seemingly unchangeableness. A stone will outlive us. A stone wears its history, while also its future.
These lino prints were the beginning of Vessels: a series of different prints that I made over the next 1,5 years.
All inspired these strong solid shapes that through time, space and constant change somehow found their form and place in the world.
These lino prints were the beginning of Vessels: a series of different prints that I made over the next 1,5 years.
All inspired these strong solid shapes that through time, space and constant change somehow found their form and place in the world.
It hadn't rained in 6 months when I arrived at the residency. Drought had become a real problem and it meant that the residency didn’t have running water. The nearby town would turn on the region’s water once a week for a few hours, so we could fill the tanks and if we were lucky shower and do laundry. Living and making work around this was an interesting challenge. I liked how, although there was none, water was at the centre of everything I did during that month. I became much more aware of how I lived with water: not only how I used it but also how water as a subject moved my work.
Just before I went to the residency I had learned from a friend the technique of cyanotype printing,
a photographic process which I saw as ‘printing with light’. I had fallen in love with the unpredictableness of it. To me using water and light to capture an image was magical.
At Montemero Art Residency I experimented with using different sources of water for the process: I collected sea water, when it rained for the first time I filled big buckets and water that was used in the kitchen was also saved. I used negatives of sky, water and clouds images of different places and on my daily walks gathered different plants to I printed with.
All this documenting and trying to capture a space with material from the space, started here and still is an integral part of my artistic practice. Some of the cyanotype prints and water I collected in Spain I later used in my work ‘where i lay my head to rest.’
a photographic process which I saw as ‘printing with light’. I had fallen in love with the unpredictableness of it. To me using water and light to capture an image was magical.
At Montemero Art Residency I experimented with using different sources of water for the process: I collected sea water, when it rained for the first time I filled big buckets and water that was used in the kitchen was also saved. I used negatives of sky, water and clouds images of different places and on my daily walks gathered different plants to I printed with.
All this documenting and trying to capture a space with material from the space, started here and still is an integral part of my artistic practice. Some of the cyanotype prints and water I collected in Spain I later used in my work ‘where i lay my head to rest.’
Looking back on my time at Montemero Art Residency it was wonderful to have the time and space to explore, experiment, and wonder about who I wanted to be as an artist. Being there allowed me to deepen my interest and help me focus on themes and subjects that deeply moved me. When I left it felt like I just scraped the surface. A month in the desert gave me a glimpse into what my practice could be and that was really exciting.
