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The National Trust, Mottisfont - 1 year residency
'For the Time Being' Exhibition, Mottisfont House Gallery, 3 May - 7 July 2019 ‘Borrowed Light’. 2019 Box Framed Cyanotypes 70 x 70 x 3 cms 5 months worth of light. 1 year residency with The National Trust at Mottisfont. 'For the Time Being' Exhibtion Mottisfont House Gallery, 3 May - 7 July 2019 The preventative conservation strategy of the National Trust, involves a method of observation that monitors the damaging effects of sunlight. A standardized system of placing dosimeters in each room is used. This is a simple rectangle of blue dyed wool that is sandwiched between two pieces of card. The front has a window cut out and the wool proceeds to fade, depending on the amount of light and other environmental factors. The varying faded blue shades are sent away for analysis and are an indication of the amount of light damage that has occurred. This relatively simple slow process has been reappropriated in ‘Borrowed Light’. Using paper coated in cyanotype, a photographic process invented by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the light sensitive samples were left at Oakley Beat between October and February 2018. The changes in daylight, weather conditions and chance produced results that are both beautiful in their simplicity and striking in their subtle differences. |