TIDAL FORCES

Tidal Forces highlights the relationship between the moon and the tides, cohesively drawing the two bodies of work together. This work evolved from my call and response collaborative work, in which my life was represented through line and the collaborative process. Through Tidal Forces I am engaging in a call and response collaboration with the natural elements, mimicking the way in which the moon pushes and pulls upon the oceans.
 

Tidal Forces incorporates printmaking, audio, and the alternative photographic processes of cyanotypes and cyanolumens. The cyanotype process produces images in a blue hue. Images are formed through the reaction of a solution of iron salts, painted on paper, to sunlight. Objects or negatives placed on top of the paper stop sections from being developed, creating silhouettes, shapes, or images. Cyanolumen prints are formed by combining the cyanotype and lumen print processes.
 

These processes highlight how chance plays a part in reshaping time, artworks, and our lives. The cyanotype process can also be undertaken using seawater and waves, emphasising the connection between the moon and tides. Drypoint was chosen to create the tidal height line graph layered with the cyanotypes, to demonstrate the illusive control we attempt to take over time and the world, and to emphasise the moons influence on the oceans. Incorporating processes from both bodies of works within the cyanolumens, enforces the works connections. The cyanolumens were created using found objects at the beach, incorporating chance in a new way. Furthermore, if both processes are not fixed properly, they have the potential to change due to continued light exposure, the underpinning theme for both works.

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Lunar Cycles and Tidal Forces occupy adjacent walls in the gallery. In juxtaposition with each other, the portrait orientation of Lunar Cycles, represents the moons position, whilst the landscape orientation of Tidal Forces, represents tidal movements. The viewer can explore the works starting from either the moons/change or tides/times perspective, enabling them to form their own opinion on time and change. The relationship between time and change is reinforced by combining the two projects in an artist’s book and by creating an immersive experience that enables the viewer to reflect on time, change, control, experience, and chance.
 

‘The whole of Existence, the whole Universe, exists in individual moments of Time’ (Zenji 2013, p.51). Just as each work created experiences distinctive moments in time, so to do every single human. Furthermore, we have the limited potential to manipulate time through our experiences. Kubler wrote that we ‘. . . cannot fully sense any event until after it has happened, until it is history . . .’ (as quoted in Kent 2012, p.30). Therefore, understanding time and its many intricacies enables us to gain empathy for and understanding of the people around us, and potentially change our futures.