Accumulative Formations

This variable edition comprises six prints taken from a collagraph and carborundum matrix. The plates I used to create these works comprise textures and forms that occurred through the gradual accumulation of layered offcuts of papers and fabrics, studio detritus, torn down 'failed' prints and embossings, modelling pastes and carborundum grit, collaged together beneath a final layer of shellac to produce an uneven surface that can take on ink in different ways. I enjoy the slowly cumulating nature of the process-led working methodology behind the surface of this plate. To me, it is evocative of the incremental but constant rising of the ground level of the lands around us, occurring over thousands of years due to the construction of new settlements and burying of old ones, development of new infrastructure, erosion and material deposits, and various environmental factors. I see some of these forces at work in this plate, but on a localised, microscopic scale: that of the space of the plate itself within my studio during lockdown. Hence, the title: 'Accumulative Formations'.