This image is a collage, made from photograms of glass cubes exposed to low angle light from a torch. The success or failure of the juxtaposed sections all depends on factors over which I only have partial control: the exact height and angle of the torch, the direction(s) from which I shine it, the length of exposure, even the type of torch and strength of the battery. I shine the light several times from different directions, in ignorance (until the paper goes into the developer) of the effect of previous exposures. It’s a matter of chance.
In 2015 Cornelia Parker made photographic prints with ice cubes; beautifully unstable since they turn to water as you work. Her comments resonate with me:
‘These themes develop when you’re making the work rather than being pre-determined. I always want to be led by my intuition and the process itself, rather than the other way round. There is a little nod to Fox Talbot in the choice of objects that I am using, but they are a part of a vocabulary that I had already………. I’m always attracted to the seemingly random, not being someone who sits down and literally draws. I am drawn to things in life that are made by accident or not too consciously, those that you can’t have too much control over. This is what’s so great about ice slipping across a plate – you can’t control how the ice is going to behave. My intention got the ice to be there in the first place, but once it’s there it’s allowed to do what it wants’.
Dave Eva Photograms 