150cm x 120cm

Mixed media on canvas

My practice begins with photography, but the photograph is not always the final destination.

For many years I have worked with the palladiotype process, drawn to its physicality and the transformation that occurs when an image becomes a handmade photographic object. Surface extends this process into new territory.
Beginning with photographs of three local fragile marine species - Haeckel's
Jellyfish, Weedy Sea Dragon and Shorthead Seahorse - the images move through palladium printing, image transfer and material experimentation.

As they move between surfaces, the images are fragmented, obscured and transformed. Organic forms emerge from textures that suggest timber, oxidised metal, concrete and other weathered materials, shifting between representation and abstraction.
Alongside the photographic and mixed-media works, the exhibition explores the image translated into wallpaper and soft furnishings, extending the practice beyond the frame and into interior and architectural space.

The photograph remains the starting point, but the finished image is no longer necessarily the destination.

SPECIES RARELY SEEN BEYOND THE SURFACE