2021: Storm Darcy

During Storm Darcy in February 2021, I was experimenting with combining ice and snow with Cyanotype photographic chemicals in my garden. I first started exploring this technique earlier in the year, in January, by pre-freezing the chemical and letting it melt overnight to create sporadic exposures and patterns

Over several days, during the snow, freezing temperatures and sleet of Storm Darcy, I played with different ways of creating long (1 to 7 day) exposures outdoors. For example, I made snow balls mixed with Cyanotype, created pre-frozen blocks of photographic emulsion, or painted the paper and allowed the mixture to thaw and re-freeze overnight. The resulting patterns of exposure show unexpected markings and details of the ice and water created by weather and time

Above: Ice snow balls, 8th February 2021; below: Thawed and re-frozen Cyanotypes, 8th to 15th February 2021

One of the snow ball artworks was selected by Ryoanji Records in an open call commission to feature as the cover artwork of Ingrid Plum‘s album, Corporeality, released in September 2022

In Ingrid’s words: “This album has been a special one, when I started recording I had no voice and very little breath after COVID got to my lungs. By the end I was vocalising again and singing, and Corporeality charts the journey of healing while responding to recordings in the Lily Greenham Archive. Other influences include Annea Lockwood’s choral compositions and the album features the mighty VCS4 synth from 1970”

Listen and buy on Bandcamp