Electricity
Samantha Brown
This work in progress project experimenting with alternative practice of cyanotypes. It is a historic photographic process. Combining my analogue images and what little knowledge I had of cyanotypes I began a trial and error process. Exposure methods from sunlight to exposure machines where explored and the different results on the final image. The ratio of chemicals that was appropriate for my images had to be accessed.
The subject matter of electricity substations was born out of a 2015 project entitled Botany of Silence, a study in demolition of a shoe factory. The only lasting remnant was an electricity substation only revealed once the building had disappeared. Seeking out other substations which are familiar objects but recede into background. Documenting these singular structures I noticed the similarities and differences between them. The way they are situated in the environment, the level of social interaction i.e. graffiti and passersby. The location is always visible painted on the front of the substation.
A remainder that has emerged from the rubble of the demolition site. Trailing a memory from the past into the present, re-imagining the representation of time. While it appears as a singular structure it is part of a network that cannot be broken. As populations grow these networks expand, connecting the past, present and future.
