Could you tell us what drew you towards collection 1.0019 and how you started to navigate the early stages of your research?
I joined the EAC Archive Project only in April this year, and, after going through the different options, collection 1.0019 stood out in particular because it included digitised Super 8 films. I’ve worked with this medium before, so the decision came quite naturally. I wanted to challenge myself by making use of the Super 8 medium in a unique way.
Have you worked with archival material before and, if so, could you comment on the importance of responding to historical records within your practice?
My Master of Fine Arts degree focussed on the delicate negotiations of working with found material, so this was the first time I worked with materials and had access to their historical records. Even though it was interesting to read the backstory, I still found myself responding to the archive material in a more imaginative manner.
You chose to work with the monotype medium for The Second Day. Could you explain why you chose this technique?
I decided on the monotype medium because of its key characteristic: no two prints end up being perfectly alike, and consequently it makes editioning impossible. So too with memory; two or more accounts of a single event can never be identical, however similar the narrative may seem. The monotype process aided perfectly in producing imagery, fading from distinct to ethereal; a clear print to a ghost impression; and triggering the moment from remembering to forgetting. I could effectively make use of the ‘ghost print’, which is a print made with the remaining ink on a printing surface after a print has been pulled. It provides the basis for working up a subsequent image or it may be printed, as I did with the last image of the series, resulting in a fragile impression. This ghost print, which is often considered inferior, articulated that fragile moment of forgetting so well. It remains my favourite of the series of monoprints.
There is a subtle sense of trickery within the works; something or someone just out of reach. Could you expand a little on how you approached the themes of pace and time within the works?
I find it very interesting that you mention pace and time. Through all the tests and prints that I did in preparation for the series ‘The Second Day’, I was grappling with the static results. The more frustrated I got, the faster I worked. I realised through this process that the swifter printing gave the image an element of movement. Hence, pace and time played a true physical role in the making of this monoprint series.
Secondly, time is such a precarious theme in our everyday lives, in the memories we capture, and in the deterioration of physical photographs or Super 8 films. So it was unquestionably a relevant theme in the works Witness I & II by the very nature of the medium.
You created these works while on residency. Did being away from ‘home’ yourself inform or affect your response?
I think that whenever you are far from familiar surroundings, or if you find yourself in an unsettled moment, you have a yearning for a deeper place of stimulation. Somehow you manage to uncover a layer that you never realised existed.
To be honest, I thought that my work was done once I completed the Monotype Series. But somehow I still had an insatiable urge to work physically with the imagery and imaginatively manipulate and transform the film stills. I think that being away from home and having fewer distractions, along with a profound sense of longing, urgently prompted me to create the works Witness I & II.
Are there any strategies or themes developed during the Saudade project that you are keen to take forward into future works?
This project has unquestionably deepened my love for the monotype medium! As a result, I am in the process of working on a series of monoprints that feature figurative forms. I’ve also found a very interesting direction that came as a result of the photographic works (Witness I & II); I am working on a collaboration whereby I will be experimenting with contoured illustrated layers with film negatives, layered with portrait imagery. So yes! This project took me on an incredible journey, and I am excited for the respective routes that evolved from my participation in the Saudade project.