John Akomfrah – Lisson Gallery , London

John Akomfrah’s My Body is the Monument and The Monuments of Being Series, Lisson Gallery, London 2021.

John Akomfrah’s team approached me to produce a set of Gicleé prints for his exhibition The Unintended Beauty of Disaster at the highly prestigious Lisson Gallery in London.

His dynamic and thought-provoking art is powerful in drawing attention to contemporary events and in December 2020 when our discussions began, these included the Black Lives Matter protests, demonstrations against imperialist monuments, and man-made ecological disaster and its role in humanity’s path to self-destruction. We worked toward a tight deadline as the exhibition kicked off on 13 April.

The show featured a series of new photo texts exploring colour and race. This was supplied as digital artwork. These works are part of his 2020 Our Skin is a Monument. The work incorporates a still from the American film ‘Carmen Jones’. The still is placed in a Shirley card, that has been used since the 1940s to calibrate skin-colour balance. For decades only white models were used to set colour parameters which had a dramatic effect on how Black skin was rendered on film.

John Akomfrah’s My Body is the Monument in production

To best showcase John’s art, we collaborated on the paper choice and test prints for colour optimisation. Once perfected, we printed 54 images for the Monuments of Being series.Some of the prints were embellished with gold text. A further four 40 x 60 inches prints were produced for the Our Skin is the Monument series.

I believe we helped enhance John’s artwork toward achieving his objective “to express the diversity of Black characters, characteristics and characterisations that should form the bedrock of any de-colonial or anti-racist future”.

John Akomfrah’s The Monuments of Being Series, Lisson Gallery, London.

External Links

https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/john-akomfrah

Smoking Dog Films

Tech v Paper ?

Assortment of disused CDs, DVD’s Memory cards and Hard Drives

There are several hard facts that are a certainty in life, Taxes, Death and without exception your hard drives, CD’s , memory sticks, mobile phones and computers will FAIL

Whilst rummaging through a cupboard, I rediscovered some old family photos circa 1888 and was overjoyed at looking at long lost relatives. This got me wondering, would there be the same excitement in finding an old hard drive by future generations? – would the drive work and if it did fire up would there be the programmes or interface to even access the files? Perhaps this is the paradox of our digitally connected society where digital images are now so readily available, cheap to record and share. Without a hard print there is a danger that these images will certainly become lost and unretrievable. To print the very best of your images creates not only a pleasurable item and lasting memory, but also a legacy for our future generations.

Photographic Prints circa 1888

So what are the archival properties of the ink paper combinations used in the studio? As with anything to do with archival estimations there has to be an assumption as to how the print is to be displayed. If it is a bare print exposed to moisture, pollution, heat and sunlight left on the sideboard, then the archival qualities will be a lot less than a print sandwiched between acid free paper inside the pages of a book.

The excellent Wilhelm Imaging Research undertake accelerated ageing tests on inks and media combinations and storage conditions.

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/canon/ipf8300.html

Different papers have slightly different archival characteristics but as a bench mark, using Canon Pigment Inks and Hahnemule Photo Rag,  a framed print will last 95 – 125 years before noticeable fading or changes in colour balance. This should be very reassuring to an Artist selling Giclee prints as you can be assured that a properly framed print will last a lifetime. Unframed prints should be kept between acid free tissue and preferably away from moisture in the dark. A print preserved this way will last for up to 300 years. Exposed areas of paper can absorb many things including , pollen, pollution and moisture and this can cause discolouration of the paper base. If the print is left on the sideboard unprotected in the sun by an open window next to a busy street then its 42 years before the print colour begins to change! So if after 42 years your print shows signs of fading then drop in and I will make you coffee and a new one.

BPPA Assignments Exhibition, Truman Brewery.

Press coverage of the BPPA Assignments Exhibition, Truman Brewery London, UK

The BPPA Assignments Exhibition encompasses the very best of British Press Photography from the last 12 months. After carefully assessing and preparing the files for printing, we used a digital baryta paper to print the exhibition. This paper is reminiscent of traditional double weight bromide papers from the wet darkroom, with rich blacks, creamy whites and excellent retention of shadow detail. This fully complemented the images and kept with the tradition of press prints from the Fleet Street era.

Prints for the BPPA Assignments Exhibition 2016 Truman Brewery London,UK

BPPA Assignments Exhibition, Truman Brewery London, UK

 

“On The Run” Ian Emes exhibition at Galeria Miejska, Wroclaw, Poland.

This exhibition involved a number of different challenges and techniques to represent the different facets of Ian’s work. We used Canvas to represent his storyboards and paintings, Acetate prints suspended above mounted images to add a three dimensionality to the picture and reference back to animated film making on celluloid. Mounted prints on pvc and aluminium as well as fine art prints for the film stills from The Duran Duran Video “The Chauffeur” completed the show .

Black Pyramid, Triangle and circle 1m x1m Prints mounted to aluminium with clear water laminate

3 x 2m canvas print

16mm film collage, Giclee print

Clocks still from the animation sequence “Time” by Ian Emes. Commissioned by Pink Floyd for their Dark Side Of The Moon concert tours.

Artist Rebecca Jewell – Migrating Artefacts exhibition, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

Compass, Artist Rebecca Jewell

Compass, Artist Rebecca Jewell

Working with Rebecca Jewell on her exhibition entailed photographing her delicate artwork to produce limited edition exhibition prints. Her work was centred around found images and artefacts from museums and collections, and these images were photographed, printed and mounted for Rebecca to the work onto to create new works. Combining archival digital prints on fine art papers with hand printed feathers enabled these stunning artworks to be created.

www.rebeccajewell.com

Floating Feathers -Archival Digital Print from original Photo and printed feathers

Floating Feathers -Archival Digital Print from original Photo and printed feathers

Whitney South Sea Expedition - Archival digital Print and printed feathers

Whitney South Sea Expedition – Archival digital Print and printed feathers

Appropriating A'a - Archival digital print and feather collage

Appropriating A’a – Archival digital print and feather collage