This series of A4 cyanotype photograms is made using solid acrylic blocks to explore the architectural forms suggested by the shadows cast by various arrangements of these blocks. A collection of four blocks is reconfigured into twelve arrangements, each suggesting an architectural or urban form. The cyanotype prints made from the shadows, reflections, and refractions of these configurations follow the axonometric projection drawing convention – a true plan is formed from the contact of the blocks on the paper, and the parallel sun rays trace the oblique side elevations. The shadows’ penumbras increase as they pull away from the picture place, blurring what were once sharp edges. As light travels through the solid, yet transparent material, it reveals imperfections in the acrylic as they become imprinted in the fine detail of the cyanotype.
This work was produced for the Kingston School of Art Department of Architecture & Landscape Postgraduate Designate in cyanotype printing, which I am running for the first time this year. As the designate tutors participate in and exhibit alongside the students, I wanted to make work that would not take up excessive wall space. Small acrylic boxes were not readily available but these solid ones were. The behaviour of the blocks in reflecting and focussing light provides these prints with a quality quite different to that of the hollow cubes used for previous prints.
This work is available to purchase via the Made in Arts London website.
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