Unconventional sustainable contemporary artwork and jewellery using the imperfect, discarded and intervention of the self as inspiration, tool, and material. Circular economy principles are an integral part of my process. Materials and waste are reused, reworked and recycled through innovative experimental techniques and alternative processes.
Responsible creation with an edge.
Responsible creation with an edge.
I am committed to sustainable & ethical making
Learn more about the steps I am taking to be a conscious and responsible artist, including...
- striving for zero waste through my circular economy studio practice - my use of natural, unusual and 'waste' materials - silver reclamation from used photographic fixer - offering the option of Fairmined precious metals - sustainable packaging choices - reducing resource and energy consumption ...and everything in between |
FEATURED
DARK MATTER - jewellery and artwork created from photographic darkroom waste
In April 2020 I was invited to take part in London Alternative Photography Collective's Sustainable Darkroom Residency.
My contribution was to look into the reclamation of silver from exhausted photographic fixer. I developed a method, unique to my practice, of plating the waste silver onto pieces of jewellery and objects I constructed from 'failed' unrecyclable photographs and chemigrams, essentially returning the silver to the photographic paper. A cyclical process focused on the reduction of waste, reuse of precious resources and prevention of heavy metals and plastics being released into the environment. The Sustainable Darkroom put together a publication documenting the work from the residency called THIS IS (STILL) NOT A SOLUTION, where my initial plating experiments and thoughts were written up. In 2022 a new publication was launched called re.source and I was asked to contribute an update on my experimentations. ‘re·source unpicks the colonial and social entanglements between materials as resources, embodies the notion of being resourceful, considers the relationship between resources as a source of wealth or revenue and acts as a resource in and of itself; providing valuable information to those wanting to learn about ecologically conscious photography.’ |
On the 29th July 2022 I was invited to speak at artist Melanie King's 'Precious Metals' seminar.
I first met Melanie early in 2021 when she asked me to teach her my silver reclamation from photographic fixer method that I developed to plate my jewellery and artwork as part of my contribution to London Alternative Photography Collective's Sustainable Darkroom Residency back in April 2020. Melanie's work from her project was exhibited at Photofusion, London. The accompanying seminar “broadly considers the use of precious metals in astronomy, photography, jewellery, and engineering". In my presentation I discussed my use of only recycled and responsibly sourced metals in my jewellery and some of my experimental processes for reducing and reusing waste within and beyond my circular studio practice, including one of my signature processes of jewellery made from resin coated photographic paper and silver recovered from the fixer the photos were created from. A recording of the seminar is available to watch, and if you like to learn a little bit more about my silver reclamation and reuse of non-recyclable photographic paper head to my journal and responsible making page which also has links to the two Sustainable Darkroom publications that feature my work. |
Since contributing to THIS IS (STILL) NOT A SOLUTION, re.source, and the Precious Metals seminar things have moved on quite a bit and I have been continuing to develop this body of work under the title DARK MATTER.
A selection of my early DARK MATTER pieces have been exhibited at Transmutation at The Margate School at the start of 2023 and at the inaugural CRAFTWORKS at Shoreditch Town Hall in May 2024. My goal of removing enough silver from used fixer in order to reuse is also getting ever closer to being realised with some promising results in the summer of 2023. You can read a bit about some of these experimentations in my journal and on my responsible making page (with more updates and a dedicated page to follow soon). |
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