EDINBURGH.- Edinburgh Printmakers is presenting Photography In Print, a partnership exhibition with The ACTINIC Festival of distinctive artwork that merges modern photographic techniques with traditional printmaking in an exhibition of new work by Scottish artists working in photography.
In celebration of two popular forms of art, this exhibition re-examines photography and printmaking within contemporary visual arts practice. Each of the works on display demonstrate techniques rooted in processes founded on the discovery and utilisation of ‘actinism.’ Actinic light is defined as that property of ultraviolet light and other radiant energy by which chemical changes are produced. Beyond the technical aspects, thematic connections emerge in the selected pieces including memory, history and sense of place in imagery referencing a range of scenarios from modernist legacies to imaginary landscapes. These works are presented are all by Scottish-based artists working with processes such as cyanotype, photo-etching, and photolithography.
Both photography and printmaking continue to evolve. Within the contemporary field, photography is the most popular method of image-making and the vast array of practises that fall under the umbrella term “printmaking” are driven by technologies developed outside of art practice - often re-appropriating equipment and techniques used within commercial and industrial contexts as it was in the 19th century. These antiquated methods are reimagined and put to use with the aid of more modern tools. This can be seen in several of the artists in this exhibition utilising digitally-produced negatives along with these analogue processes.
In the case of Marysia Lachowiz, this involves continuing on that feedback loop of material process with her cyanotype and digital image construction printed onto muslin. In addition to Lachowiz’s mixed media approach her concepts are connected to process. Beyond the Surface is driven by mark-making and personal connection to the environment. Walking the Fife coast she created an abstract record of impressions in nature.
Morwenna Keasrley’s F**k Weekends in the Country! has, in a sense, encapsulated the entire idea of the exhibition by engaging and commenting on the thematic and technical history of the medium by putting a contemporary slant on important black and white photographers. She does this by responding to the legacy of Lee Miller with style and humour and updated photographic techniques inspired by Edward Weston.
Memory of experience and sense of place are expressed strongly in the collaborative work of Kristina Chan. The project Survey contemplates our engagement with the landscape and recollecting that memory of place. Chan’s collaborative work with Itamar Freed create displaced landscapes - putting into question the veracity of the image between the real and the fantastic. Lucid Dreams disassociates the viewer from the landscape and enables a heightened sense of imaginary or unreal with use of layering and unnatural or diffused colour.
