During the first lockdown I kept the skins of avocados and let them dry in the sun. I was really pleased with the rich tones captured in these photographs and thought they might remain as that – photographs. However, over the last few months I have allowed myself to stitch again – with anything and everything, so having considered the collection of avocado skins daily, it was time to bite the bullet and this is the result . . .
I pierced each skin and linked them together with thick steel wire – the contradiction between the materials creating tension in the work and the making. The skins were quite brittle and I shattered a few through the process as I secured the steel wire. With each skin added, there was the risk that they would all disintegrate and immediately after I took this photo, I added one more skin it fell apart. Undeterred, I re-joined them. Where the joins have failed, I’ve left the steel wire in place, adding a visible process to the work.
A few of my projects during the first lockdown relied on the sun, including creating cyanotypes and drying out avocado skins. Now I am revisiting these works and wanting to make them bigger, I am regretting not having taken advantage of those Summer months with nothing else to do. This is yet another example of the fact that whilst I do not necessarily represent the passing of time in my finished work, the process of making my work is time based, in the length of time it takes me to create the pieces and also in terms of having to wait for the seasons to pass to be able to continue with some of my projects. The problem, if that is what it can be called, is that I don’t always know what I am going to do when I start to collect and transform objects, it often takes months of living with them before ideas cristalyse and whilst in the long term that’s ok, in the short term I’ve got a final year degree show to complete – fingers crossed that Spring will be glorious and I can complete my projects.
Being at home and taking photographs outside last Summer also reminded me how natural light makes such a difference to the quality of photographs – something I am struggling with during this third lockdown in the middle of winter with no natural light or even good studio light – just the dull yellow cast of a poorly lit home. It has made me more aware of the impact of seasons on my art and determined to get out with my camera this summer!