Solargraph Sketchbook Project (2020)
Living at 57* North in the Outer Hebrides, our life is defined by sunlight and darkness. This Solargraph ‘Sketchbook’ is an on-going exploration of this defining elemental quality.
At this latitude, only 9 degrees below the Arctic circle, during summer the sun remains in our sky almost 24 hours a day while at the winter solstice on 21st December the sun barely rises above the horizon and we are in velvety darkness from mid afternoon. Thankfully, from this point onwards the sun’s arc increases a little more each day turning us slowly towards spring.
Solargraphs are made by installing small pin-hole cameras outside in the landscape for several months. As time passes, depending on the time of year the arc of the sun rises or lowers just a little more each day. This sunlight etches into the photographic paper and once processed results in a beautiful, iridescent white rainbow of light.
During several months, these little pin-hole cameras endure quite extreme challenges. Seagulls rest on them and pick holes through the lids. Gale force winds try their best to remove them from their fixtures or at least wobble them loose. On my croft, livestock investigate and scratch on them. There is never any certainty what kind of results will be revealed after many months in situ … if any results at all!!
As stated, this Solargraph ‘sketchbook’, is an on-going body of work to which I will add as the results are revealed. Each solargraph is unique and represents a record of sunlight over a period of time in a specific latitude and location.
Over time, I will build a gallery of gathered sunlight from around the world at different latitudes and in different settings. The aim is to remind us all of our context within systems and cycles that are constant, infinite and vast. Our contemporary lives are so wrapped up in technology that we no longer notice what our ancestors studied in detail. Thus through the use of solargraphs, I have started to record and make visible that which we no longer see.
If you are interested in purchasing one of my Solargraph prints from the Outer Hebrides please go to BUY ART